


Merman

by Halcyon_Writes



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: AU, F/M, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2020-07-31 00:53:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 23,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20106472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Halcyon_Writes/pseuds/Halcyon_Writes
Summary: Underneath the waters of Paris, there is a city. A city of mermaids and merman, including the Royal Advisor's son, Adrien Agreste.But what will happen when a human falls into his world, sparking discoveries he never would have known about otherwise...





	1. Prologue: A Funeral

It was a beautiful day, the sky to blue and the sun too bright for the occasion of the day. Her parents funeral. Marinette wished the weather matched her mood but it didn’t. It was the exact opposite. The few wispy clouds that floated across the sky were not the ones that Marinette wished for. The weather was much too cheerful for a funeral. If only the weather matched her emotions, things might be slightly easier to grasp.

The people gathered around her mourned for the bakers that had provided bread and pastries for them for so long, but none of them knew the real Tom and Sabine, the people that only Marinette knew. The rest were only grieving their source of bread. Nothing more. 

They were all so selfish.

The funeral ended and everyone started to leave, only Marinette remaining behind, standing alone next to the two headstones. When she was sure everyone was gone, she collapsed to the ground, the flood of tears she had been holding back washing down her face. She gripped her mother’s headstone as she sobbed, her entire body shaking. “I’m so sorry, Mama, Papa. I wish I could have done something.”

Marinette had apologised over and over after her parents had died, even when their bodies had been taken away and no one could hear her. Even as she scrubbed their blood from the tiles, she had apologised for not being there, though there was nothing she could have done.

An attacker had broken into their little bakery, probably a pirate raiding as many buildings as he could before returning to his ship with the plundered goods, but Tom and Sabine had been in the bakery at the time, and had paid dearly for it. The police were still hunting for their killer, but nothing had turned up yet, after there were witness reports of the man, still nothing. The ship carrying him was probably already out on the open waters.

Marinette rested her head against the cool stone, wishing for a better life where everything was still happy. Her mind was filled with images of a new world, somewhere she was loved and accepted. Not a city by the sea that was filled with memories that were so hard to remember.

Marinette dropped her head and cried again. Since she got home a few days ago and found her parents dead in the middle of the bakery everything was a blur. Even though she had already cried, there were floods of tears still inside her. Now she could finally let all her tears out. No one was around to see, no one around to judge.

“I’m going to make a new life for myself, and I’ll do it for you. Both of you, because I love you both and I want to make you proud. Please don’t be mad. I’m not forgetting you, just moving onwards in my life. I promise,” Marinette vowed, knowing what she had to do. There was going to be no vengeance for her parents, but she would be happy again, no matter how long it took. For them.

As she walked home, she noticed an ad posted in a window. It was for a real estate agent. Maybe moving away was what she needed. A change in scenery might do her some good. Marinette pushed the door open and walked inside.

|||

A week later and everything was either packed into her few bags, sent to a charity or sold off. She had received an offer for the bakery almost the moment she said she wanted to sell it, even with its recent tragic events. She was to be moved out no more than a week after the sale, and that was exactly what she did. Everything was clean and it was time to leave.

She had the money in her purse from the bakery and everything she owned and she could finally get away. She hadn’t put too much thought into where she was going, but with the money she had she could definitely pay someone to get on their boat and move to a different country. Then she could find work there and build her life back up.

The trip to the docks was daunting. The carriage ride was long and bumpy, and when Marinette arrived at the docks themselves, there were people everywhere calling out to each other, shouting, screaming, and there was a constant hum of white noise in the background. Marinette pushed through the crowds towards the board holding the list of ships in port.

Plastered right in the middle of the board was a newspaper article. The Pollen would be in town for just one day, sailing down the Seine and then leaving later that night. Chloe Bourgeois, whose father controlled half of the trading in France and may as well be royalty, would be making a short appearance and shopping trip before her boat set sail again. Her father was shipping spices and gold to markets across Europe and Chloe had demanded to be on board. Her father had complied.

‘I have to get on that ship,’ Marinette thought to herself. The article said that ship was in Paris to pick up more supplies, so she could choose anywhere the ship stopped.

Marinette walked along the docks, carrying her bag the entire time. The Pollen was at the very end of the long concrete walkway, in a special lot that only housed Andre Bourgeois’ ships. Marinette gasped as the boat came into view. She knew the family was eccentric, just not to this degree.

The boat was pure yellow, with only a few stripes lining the sides. Each porthole was surrounded in glimmering diamonds, each reflecting tiny rainbows. The sails were made from the finest material Marinette had ever seen, and as far as she could judge, the flag was silk with a bee stitched into it. Everything was scrubbed to perfection, and the boat looked barely used. It would have taken an entire crew hours to get the ship that clean.

Waiting until the coast was clear, Marinette walked up the gangway as fast as she could without seeming suspicious. She was nearly on the boat when she heard a shout. “Hey! You! What are you doing on the boat?”

Marinette turned around, frightened. If she couldn’t think of a way out of this, she would be arrested and thrown into prison for the rest of her life. “I’m delivering some of Mademoiselle’s shopping?”

The man pointed his mop at her. He gestured to the door behind him. “Alright, but be quick. All bags go into the room next to the pantry. We leave at sundown, and if you aren’t off the boat by then, you’ll get thrown overboard.”

Marinette swallowed nervously. Then she turned and rushed out in the direction of the door to the storeroom. She could possibly hide with all the shopping, but if Chloe decided to inspect her purchases she would be thrown overboard. Then she remembered the food store was just next door, and the cargo was stored below. Unfortunately, the only way to get to the cargo hold was the trapdoor in the middle of the deck, and Marinette didn’t know whether the man was still cleaning or not.

‘The food store it is, then,’ Marinette thought. She set to work moving large bags of flour and grain around. The crew would have dinner on shore before returning to the boat around nine o’clock, and Chloe returning half an hour later for her big appearance before setting sail. They wouldn’t need to be in the food store until tomorrow morning, and she could sneak into the cargo hold in the middle of the night. Her plan would work.

Marinette pushed the final bag into place, placing her small bags into the hidden pockets she had made. Once she was sure they were hidden, Marinette crawled into a larger pocket and curled up, preparing for the long trip ahead of her, filled with boredom. At least her sketchbook was just across the room.

|||

Marinette listened to the cheers as Chloe boarded the boat. It sounded like half of Paris had turned out, but in reality, it was more like the people hired to cheer and those people who thought of Chloe as a celebrity.

She had crawled out of her hiding spot after less than an hour, her legs cramping and her back sore. Marinette had paced around the food until she heard the cheering. She had pressed her ear against the door, but had eventually sat back down at the back of the room.

The boat was going to depart as soon as the fireworks display finished and Chloe actually got onto the ship, rather than swan around in front of the crowd of people gathered. Hopefully, nothing went wrong until they were well on their way. Marinette didn’t want to be delayed any longer, even though she had no say in anything, since no one knew she was there.

The crowd quietened down and Marinette heard Chloe speak. “Thank you everyone for coming here to see me off. I know you’re all here for me, so I won’t be keeping you long.”

Marinette leant her head back against the wood panelling of the ship and waited until Chloe finished her speech. One line at the end caught her attention. Chloe said there was a storm coming that night and she wanted to get out past it so the Pollen wasn’t damaged.

The crowd dispersed and Chloe boarded the boat. The gangplank scratched against the deck as it was hauled in and pushed to the side. People shouted as ropes and anchors were pulled in. The ship began moving out into the open waves. Marinette could hear the waves pushing against the side of the ship as they picked up speed.

Soon, they would be far out to sea and there was no turning back.

Hidden down with the food and her only belongings left, Marinette shut her eyes and tried to drift off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 1: Marinette's Ally

The waters were calm and serene as his tail propelled him through the water. Adrien had always found the few metres below the surface of the water was the calmest, especially above the city. There was no one else around, and his father couldn’t tell him what to do. He had swum further than he had meant to, and fell asleep as he was staring at the clouds, only to be awoken in the middle of nowhere with the shadow of a ship looming over him.

Adrien pulled the baton from his belt and flicked the map out. The ship was heading in the same direction as he needed to be, so why not follow it while he could? 

As he swam closer to the boat, he realised it was the Pollen. He had seen that same boat sailing past multiple times before. He always had to stay a fair distance away from the boat because someone always seemed to be watching over the sides and staring deep into the water. At least the city was deep, deep into the blue.

They were out into the open waters, but the storm had moved much faster than anyone had expected. Marinette was dragged rudely from her dreamless sleep by being thrown onto a wall. She groaned and held her head, a pain pulsing through her entire skull.

Marinette dropped to her knees and leaned against the wall as the boat continued to rock. The food was starting to move around, and Marinette was afraid of being crushed by a sack.

The storm had died down to the point water wasn’t leaking through the door anymore, and the boxes and sacks were no longer moving around with the violent motions of the sea. Marinette clutched her stomach, still feeling slightly seasick from all the scents around her overwhelming her senses and the tossing of the boat.

There were no portholes in the food store, so Marinette had no idea of time. Her small clock was in her bag, but she couldn’t get to it without falling over and having to move the bags and boxes of food she had moved around her to keep herself hidden, so she tried to ignore the feeling of helplessness and fear.

Marinette almost screamed when she saw a girl walk in. She had long hair that melted from brown into red. She had a long orange, blue and white tartan patterned overcoat and denim pants. She had high white boots with two black lines across the top, and a fox buckled belt slung around her hips.

Before she could throw herself back behind the bags and bags of grain, Marinette was spotted. The girl pulled the sword Marinette hadn’t seen before and pointed it directly at Marinette’s chest. “Who are you and how did you get on the ship?”

“I snuck on, but please don’t tell anyone. I just need to get away from Paris and this was the best option I had.” Marinette’s chest started to tighten, and her breath shortened. If this girl told anyone she was here, it was end game for Marinette.

“What is your name?” The crewmember raised her chin, keeping her sword trained at Marinette.

“I’m Marinette Dupain-Cheng. My parents owned the bakery?” Marinette hoped her name was recognisable, her parents’ murders had been in the news because of the bakery and the brutality of the murders. It seemed like everyone knew, so Marinette tried to avoid or ignore the sympathetic looks she got from everyone whenever she left the bakery.

“I’m so sorry about what happened.”

“I don’t want your sympathy. I want your name.” Marinette was sick of the sympathy, she just wanted to know who this girl was.

“My name is Alya Cesaire. My father works at the zoo and my mother cooks at one of the Bourgeois hotels. I left because I couldn’t put up with such a boring life anymore and now, I’m here.”

“Please help me. I don’t want anything but your silence.” Marinette was ready to get down on her knees and beg, but she didn’t.

Alya looked at Marinette. She reminded her of one of her younger sisters. “Fine. I’ll help you, but you can’t stay in here. I’m only on food check tonight after the storm. Someone else will be in tomorrow and they won’t be so helpful. Most people are ridiculously loyal to Chloe and her crazy policies about stowaways. I can sneak you back into my room about midnight. Everyone should be in their cabins by then.”

Marinette hugged Alya as tightly as she could. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! I can’t believe you’re going to help me, I’m going to get a new life, thank you so much, Alya!”

Alya laughed, but shushed Marinette all the same. “If someone hears you, we’ll both be thrown overboard. You need to be quiet.”

Marinette snapped her mouth shut instantly. She didn’t want Alya to get thrown overboard for helping her either.

“Now, help me tie everything down again. Max said there would be another storm coming and Chloe wants all the food to be intact, and then I have to make sure all the cargo is in mint condition. I’ll come back to collect you after that.”

Marinette nodded. Alya grabbed a net off the wall and handed it to her. With both of them working together, it took nearly no time. The net was clipped into the holders on each wall and Alya nodded, pleased. She climbed over the net and opened the door, peering out both ways before leaving again. Marinette could hear her footsteps for a few moments before they disappeared, and everything was quiet again.

Marinette leant against a wall and stared at the sky. She tried to imagine what her new life would be like, but all she could think about was the ocean, but it might have been because that was all she could hear. The gentle sounds of waves lapping against the ship was comforting. She felt her eyes become heavy and her eyelids started to droop.

Before she knew it, Alya was shaking her awake, whispering, “Get up, we have to go now. I think I heard noises coming from the rooms. We have to go now, before someone comes to check the food and spots you.”

Marinette flew upright and stood up as fast as she could. She felt dizzy for a moment as blood rushed to her feet, but quickly got over the light-headedness. Grabbing her bags from where they were hidden, she followed Alya out of the room, stumbling across the deck towards the doors for the cabins. On the other side of the deck, Chloe’s door groaned open. For such a well-kept ship, Marinette found it weird that most of the doors squeaked when opened.

“Go, my room is the one with the fox tail on the doorknob. I’ll distract her.” Alya pushed Marinette through the door and turned around. Marinette ran. She tried to be as silent as possible, not wanting to wake anyone else up. The door only squeaked slightly, and Marinette caught sight of oil on the hinges. Alya snuck in and out more often than just tonight if she had oil on hand to silence the hinges. Marinette wondered if she was even supposed to be checking the food.

As soon as the door closed behind her, Marinette pushed her bags into the tiny cupboard shoved into one side of the room. She had to force the doors shut again so that the piles and piles of clothes inside didn’t explode back out all over the floor.

When she was satisfied with her job, she lay down in the hammock and rocked back and forth slightly while she waited for Alya to return. 

It took only fifteen minutes for Alya to return, if the clock on the wall was to be believed, but it felt like an eternity. Marinette had spent the entire time wondering if Alya would come back at all. From what Alya had said about the loyalty to Chloe’s rules on board, she could only imagine what Chloe might do to Alya. She might have been thrown overboard or worse…

Alya opened the door and walked in, a hand pressed against her cheek. Underneath her hand, partially covered, was an angry red handprint. 

Marinette tipped herself out of the hammock and ran over to Alya. “What happened to you? I thought you said you would distract her, not annoy her so much she slapped you!”

“Leave it, Marinette. Just help me set up the spare hammock I have and then we can both go to sleep. The hand print will be gone in the morning.”

“No, it won’t. It’ll bruise and get more noticeable. You need some ice to put on that. Surely there would be some in the kitchen?” Marinette’s reasoning fell on deaf ears. Alya didn’t want to hear it.

“I said leave it, Marinette. You don’t know what you’re getting yourself and everyone else into. I’ll get some ice later.”


	3. Chapter 2: First Sighting

Alya had ventured out to get a bag of ice for her face, after Marinette had stopped bugging her about it. Once they had both calmed down, Alya started to talk about what happened. “Chloe asked me what I was doing in the middle of the night, especially since I was coming out of the food store. I told her that she had told me to check on it through the night, and she got angry that I was telling her she had forgotten something.

“She told me to come back to my cabin and stay there, don’t bother coming back out until tomorrow, and I started to walk away. But then she called me back over, yelled at me for walking away and slapped me, saying I was lucky to be on this boat and I should listen and respect her. Then I came back here. I’m lucky to have even gotten to the kitchen to get the ice pack.”

“I’m sorry. This is my fault.” Marinette could feel the guilt rising up in the back of her mind. If she hadn’t asked Alya to help her, she wouldn’t have gotten slapped by Chloe. She could have just continued on with her life, no disturbances.

Alya lay on her hammock and pressed the ice to her face again. “I said I would help you, and I’m going to stick to my word. I haven’t gone back on a promise yet and I don’t intend to start.”

“Where should I sleep tonight? If you have a spare pillow or anything, I can sleep on the floor.” Marinette tried to change the conversation or distract herself from the guilt, she couldn’t really tell.

“There’s a spare hammock in the cupboard. You probably would have seen it when you put your bag in there.” Alya walked over to the cupboard.

“I didn’t notice it.”

Just as Alya was about to open the cupboard, there was a knock on the door. Marinette pushed herself into the small gap between the wall and the cupboard and Alya threw the ice pack out the window. The handprint on her face had almost completely disappeared, despite the little amount of time she had been holding the ice pack to it.

Kim opened the door and walked in. “Chloe wants a crew meeting tomorrow. Something about stowaways and food store checks. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

Alya shook her head. “Nothing. Have a good night, Kim.”

Kim left and Alya called out to Marinette. “It’s safe to come back out now, he’s gone.”

“What can I do to help you?”

“Pull the hammock out of the cupboard and bring it over here. I have a spare set of hooks from the people in this room before. It’s the only room with them.” Alya pointed at the hammock hooks near the cupboard, identical to the ones her own hammock was hung from.

Marinette swung the cupboard doors open and pulled the net out. The hammock unfolded and fell to the floor at her feet. It was absolutely massive, Marinette could have easily fit three of herself into it. “Why do you have such a large hammock in your cupboard? Why not use this one instead?”

“It would have been too suspicious. The one I’m using is the one that Chloe issues to everyone. The one you’re holding is much larger and I got it from one of the ports we stopped at.”

“Stole it?”

“Used money to come into ownership of it. I wanted a spare, but Chloe wouldn’t give me a second one without my first one being absolutely destroyed or stolen. Even then, I doubt she would let me have another hammock.”

Marinette frowned. “Surely, she isn’t that bad of a person.”

Alya rolled her eyes, Marinette’s naivety starting to annoy her. “She’s horrible. All the hammocks are stored in her room, in the chest under her bed so no one can get to them. You can’t even more the bed, she bolted it to the floor so she could say it was safe. No one else is allowed to.”

Marinette found the end of the hammock. There was a piece of plastic, almost exactly like the one you would see on the bottom of a flag, and a loose piece of rope.

“You put the plastic around the hook, then tie the rope around the rafters so you don’t fall in the middle of the night if something happens to the hook or the plastic.”

Marinette followed her instructions. Alya took the other end and tied everything up deftly. When she saw Marinette struggling, she walked over to her. Marinette handed the rope over and Alya flicked it around for a minute until there was a strong looking knot around the rafter.

“That should be good for the night.”

Marinette slowly climbed up into the hammock, panicking slightly when it started to rock with her movements. “Thank you.”

Alya nodded and turned the light off, relying on the light coming through the still open porthole to find her way back into her hammock. She climbed inside and rolled to face away from Marinette.

Marinette stared out the porthole to the calm ocean. The sky was clear and stars were dotted across the darkness. The water sparkled under the moonlight, the tiny waves lapping against the edge. Marinette had become used to the sound and she had developed her sea legs fairly quickly, aside from the storm.

She stared out the window for hours, watching anything. Just as she was about to fall asleep, she saw a tail. It should have been too long for anything living at the surface of the water and was probably just her tired brain imagining things. Marinette got out of her hammock anyway.

Half hanging out the window, Marinette waited. A few minutes later, Marinette heard a small bang. Her head flicked down to the bottom of the boat where there was a person floating in the water, their hair golden and dry, even in the cold water.

He looked up, and noticed her. A look of fear crossed the boy’s face, before he turned and dove deeper into the water before Marinette could call anything out.

But the words were stuck in her throat.

The boy had a tail. He was a merman.

Marinette leapt back into the hammock. She was hallucinating, this was probably a dream that seemed too realistic. She would talk to Alya in the morning.

[C]|||

Morning came, and so did her conversation with Alya.

The sun had barely risen when both girls woke up. Marinette tried to roll over, forgetting she was in a hammock, and nearly fell to the floor. When she finally got out of the hammock, she said, “I think I saw a merman last night.”

“Okay.”

“You aren’t going to call me crazy?”

“I’ve heard some crazy things in the time I’ve been working. A merman is one of the more common ones, even though they are supposed to stay below the water, much further than we can see.”

“How do you know that?”

Alya leaned out the window. “I spoke to a man who believed he was the king of their kingdom. He didn’t give me a name for it, just said it was around this part of the ocean. He claimed he was the one who put the rules in place. But enough of that. I have to go to the crew meeting. Stay here.”

Marinette nodded and Alya left.

The wait was long and boring. Marinette was starting to get hungry, and hoped that Alya would think to bring her back some food. Sneaking food out would be easier than dealing with a starved body.

Judging by the reflection of the sun on the water, Marinette guessed that Alya had been gone for about an hour. She was unbearably hungry at that point, and couldn’t think of anything but food. Even the merman had fled her mind.

That was until she heard shouting outside.

She opened the door a tiny sliver. From the door, she had a good view of the deck through a conveniently placed window. People were running with nets, throwing them overboard. When they were dragged back up, they were completely empty.

“You better catch him or every single person here is getting replaced at the next stop. Is that clear?” Chloe was screaming at her crew. Whatever she was trying to catch was obviously important to her.

“I got him!” People cheered.

A net was dragged up, and writhing inside was the merman that Marinette had seen last night. He was struggling against the ropes, flicking his tail around. Marinette noticed he had incredibly sharp fins on both sides of his tail a second before he was free and plummeting back into the water.

“I want that merman. I’ll be the only person in the world to have one as a pet! One way or another, I will have that merman.” Chloe pointed to someone out of Marinette’s view. “Get the harpoon!”


	4. Chapter 3: The Harpoon

Alya left her cabin, hoping that Marinette would listen to her and stay put. The crew meeting could go for a few minutes or a few hours, but Alya reminded herself to take some food back for Marinette when the meeting was over.

When she arrived, she noticed she was one of the first ones to arrive. The only other people in the room were Kim and Chloe. The two of them were close to each other, Chloe whispering in Kim’s ear.

Alya cleared her throat and Chloe leapt away from Kim, dusting her clothes, and playing with her hair. Alya flicked her eyes between them. Something was happening, but she was already on Chloe’s bad side and didn’t want to be abandoned at the next stop.

“What are you doing here?” Chloe walked over to Alya and got in her face, pointing and everything.

“Kim said there was a crew meeting last night, so here I am. It is the morning, after all.” Alya couldn’t help the little bit of sass that slipped out. She always had a hard time playing nice whenever the captain was involved. Today seemed to be worse, especially with the lack of sleep.

“It’s just past the crack of dawn, I don’t know where in your tiny brain you would think now is a good time for a crew meeting.”

“Kim seems like he’s pretty awake.”

Chloe huffed and walked away. “Sit down or get out.”

As soon as Alya sat down, everyone else filed into the room and took a seat. Chloe seemed to be getting angrier the more people that walked in, and Alya couldn’t help the smirk that flitted across her face when Chloe realised she was having the crew meeting now because Kim had said it was in the morning.

Chloe cleared her throat. “It has come to my attention that a few of my policies are being ignored. These policies are in place to keep an ordered ship and one that runs smoothly. I will not tolerate people breaking any rules, and I will not allow ANYONE to disrespect me. As of now, the rules are changing.”

Alya rolled her eyes. Of course, the rules would change at the drop of the hat. She had been outside of her cabin after midnight, yes, but that didn’t mean Chloe had to change the rules completely and go on a power trip. If Alya hadn’t been onboard for so long, she would assume the rules would only be changed a little here and there, but it was Chloe.

The rules would make her some kind of ultimate power.

“The new rules are as followed. I will be checking everyone’s cabins at lights out. Anyone not in their room will be assigned to desk scrubbing for the next week. The only exceptions will be the ones I give out, and I will record them in my log book. Does anyone have any issues with that?”

Alya wanted to say she had a lot of issues with Chloe’s rules. She wanted to point out how corrupt the people in charge were on this ship, wanted to point out how obviously unfair everything was. But she didn’t. She didn’t want to be thrown overboard.

“The next rule is that there will be patrols assigned to monitor everything at night. The patrols will be made of my trusted crew members, no one else, and will have a very important job to do. If they catch anyone outside their cabins at night, they can throw them into the holding cell for the entire day, unless the person outside their cabins has permission or is assigned to checking the food or cargo and has signed themselves in.”

Chloe placed the piece of paper on the table and looked directly at Alya. Alya knew Chloe was directing all of the new rules at her, she just didn’t think it would be so obvious. Chloe continued with her new rules.

“Finally, anyone checking the food store or cargo hold will do so with my permission and will sign in and out every single time. I want to be able to see a list in front of me with names, dates, and times. Anyone who fails to do this will be polishing every single piece of metal in the cargo. You may leave.”

At last, Chloe was finished and Alya could get food for herself and Marinette, hopefully without getting caught. Everyone started to file out one by one until Alya was the last person left.

“Alya, may I speak to you?” Chloe’s voice held a very detectable threat. Ignore me and deal with the consequences.

Turning around, Alya plastered a smile on her face. “Of course, Chloe.”

“Listen here. I know you weren’t checking the food store last night, and I know that you probably hid something in there. Everything was moved around, so I’ve sent Kim and Ivan to check if anything is there, or even missing. If they find something, you will be thrown overboard, and I just hope for your sake that you can swim,” Chloe threatened menacingly.

“I got it, but everything is there. I was just moving food around so it would fit under the net because of the storm. Exactly like you told me to do. Don’t you remember?”

Chloe glared at Alya. “Get out.”

Alya turned and left. She headed straight to the kitchen and grabbed a plate, loading it up with everything she could grab. Nathaniel gave her a weird look, but Alya ignored it and continued grabbing food. She didn’t know how much Marinette would eat in one sitting but took extra food in case she couldn’t get to lunch for a while.

Once her plate was stacked up with all sorts of pastries, bread, eggs, and meat, Alya headed back to her room. She didn’t get far when she ran into Max.

“Chloe isn’t going to be happy with you taking that much food from breakfast.” Max pushed his glasses back up his nose while he examined her plate.

“No one else was there, and I left plenty of food behind.” Alya tried to keep the plate balanced, but it was starting to get a little bit heavier with every passing minute. “I should really get going, I think I should, stay out of Chloe’s way since she’s already annoyed at me.”

Max thought for a moment. “Are you the reason all the new rules are put in place? I won’t be able to go star watching now.”

“I’m sure Chloe will give you the exception. She needs you to tell her where we’re going and if there are any storms around.”

“We’ll see.”

Max walked away and Alya continued to her room but stopped. People were shouting. A lot of people were shouting. All of them shouting about getting nets and capturing something. Alya heard someone say ‘he’ and the first thing she thought of was the merman Marinette said she saw last night.

Alya had to make a choice. Act like everything was fine and help out with the capture or make sure Marinette had food and stayed put. But if she was near the merman she could sabotage the capture…

Alya put the plate on one of the benches nearby and ran towards the rest of the crew. She would just have to mess up with the nets, even if it would make Chloe mad. A living creature was worth more than a week of chores.

When she got to the edge of the boat, Alya saw nets being thrown into the water and hauled back up, empty. This continued until one was pulled back up with the merman in it. He had a shining green tail and bright blonde hair, as well as the most vibrant eyes Alya had ever seen.

He also had sharp fins that were apparently very good at cutting through nets.

Chloe shrieked, “Get the harpoons!”

Alya turned around quickly and caught sight of Marinette peeking through the window. Alya cursed under her breath and turned back around. She had to stop that harpoon, or Marinette would probably do something stupid.

A harpoon was fired into the water but didn’t hit anything. The merman looked towards Marinette and another harpoon was aimed at her.

Marinette opened the door and sprinted out. She was heading straight for the harpoon and looked like she was going to try and knock it off balance. “No! You can’t do that to him!”

“Marinette, no!” Alya tried to jump in the way but she couldn’t move fast enough. Marinette smashed straight into the huge machine and knocked it on its side.

The merman disappeared below the waves.

“Who are you and what are you doing on my ship?” Chloe pushed Marinette against the side of the ship. Marinette groaned as she hit the hardwood railing.

“My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng and I snuck onto your boat in Paris without anyone helping me. You need better security.”

What was she doing? Annoying Chloe wouldn’t get her anywhere.

“Then how does little Miss Cesaire know who you are? Throw her overboard and empty out Alya’s cabin.” Chloe threw Marinette over to Kim, who lifted her off the deck and dangled her over the edge.

Marinette began to scream and Alya leapt over to try and grab her but was held back by Ivan. Max and Sabrina left the deck, only to return with everything from Alya’s cabin, including her spare hammock and Marinette’s bags. Everything but the hammock was thrown into the water.

Chloe took the hammock and examined it. “Well, what do we have here? I might keep this, now that you’ll be swimming with the fish.”

Marinette was thrown overboard, hitting her head against the side of the ship as she fell. She disappeared under the water and Alya lost sight of her.

“How could you,” Alya screamed at Chloe, “She just wanted to get away from Paris and now she’s going to die!”

“She should have thought twice before crossing Chloe Bourgeois, then. My ship, my rules.”

Alya barely screamed as she fell, all the air escaping her lungs when she hit the cold water. This was it. She was going to die, and so was Marinette.


	5. Chapter 4: Overboard

The water was cold and her head hurt. She didn’t feel so good, but Marinette tried to push past all that to get back to the surface of the water. She had to breathe, and soon.

Marinette flailed her arms and legs around, fighting against the weight her soaked clothes. Everything seemed to be working against her, the currents throwing her around and the weight surrounding her dragging her down. If this continued, she would drown.

The longer she tried to fight, the harder it was to keep her eyes open. She was running out of breath and the world was starting to turn blurry and dark. She was losing.

The world faded to dark and Marinette went limp. She couldn’t keep going. Maybe this was her time? She could see her parents again, they could have a happy family

Adrien swam towards the girl as quickly as he could, carrying the bags that had been thrown overboard with her. While he was swimming, he grabbed the staff from his belt and held it up to her mouth. When he had first been given his staff, Adrien was told it would help him breathe on land, and vice versa for humans underwater. He could only hope that it was true.

The girl had stopped writhing and colour had been starting to drain from her skin, but after a few moments, Adrien saw the rosy blush return to her cheeks. She didn’t look like she was on the brink of death anymore, but Adrien still needed to get her to the city soon.

He had heard the legends of a man that held powerful jewels that could turn humans into mermaids and merman temporarily and split a tail into legs and gills into lungs. If he could get even one of those jewels he would be able to help this girl get back to land.

First, he had to get her into the palace without anyone noticing them.

Adrien grabbed the girl around her waist and started to dive deeper into the water. The city appeared after a few minutes, shining brightly because of the glowing algae that covered the sides of the highest buildings to make sure people could see.

He saw her eyes flicker open for a few seconds and look around before she passed out again. Adrien felt like that was an understandable response, as she was underwater with a merman heading towards a glowing city.

Once they reached the ocean floor, Adrien stopped and made a plan. They were currently hiding behind one of the patches of tall seaweed that dotted the darkness past the city lights. From where he was resting against the sand, Adrien had a perfect view of his window, which he had left unlocked and a little open for easy return. He would just have to throw the girl through first and dart in after. Easy.

Adrien grabbed the human girl and swam as fast as he could up the side of the palace, dodging windows and balconies. When he reached his open window, he pried it open and pushed the human through.

Someone called out below. One of the guards had spotted him. “Who are you and what are you doing outside the palace windows?”

“I thought I saw a fish darting by my window and fell out looking for it, nothing to worry about.” Adrien waved at the guard and rubbed the back of his neck, something he always did when he was nervous.

The guard eyed him suspiciously but didn’t interrogate him further. “No one outside after curfew. Get back to your room.”

“Sorry.” Adrien swam back through his window and slumped down against the wall under the window. That was way too close, if the guard had appeared a minute earlier, he would have seen Adrien carrying a human into the palace. Gabriel would have been involved, and the consequences would be dire, both or Adrien and the human. He didn’t want to think about that.

Adrien looked at the human girl. She didn’t need to use his staff to breathe anymore, she had a little bit of time before she started to drown again. With her unconscious, that time would be extended a little more. Getting a Miraculous was still the best option if she wanted to get back to land ever again.

Humans fascinated Adrien. The only time he had seen them before today was in the books and paintings his tutors had shown him to scare him into being a good son to his father, the Royal Advisor, and to keep him well away from the surface, preferably inside the castle walls. That had worked well.

Picking her up, Adrien carried the girl to his bed and set down her, pulling one of the soft seaweed sheets he owned over her. She would sleep for a few hours, probably exhausted from her ordeal. When she awoke, Adrien would have gotten her food.

What did humans eat, anyway? He knew they ate land animals, but none of them lived underwater. Would she eat the fish or the seaweed that stocked the kitchen? There was only one way to find out. He would have to venture out to the library to find answers. The thought of just bringing back food and asking the girl didn’t even cross his mind.

Opening the door and slipping out into the hallway, listening carefully for the tiny sounds that would indicate that someone was swimming towards him. It could be as small as a tail fin slapping a wall as someone turned, or even the air passing through someone’s gills. This was one of the few times Adrien was happy with his merman enhanced hearing.

Adrien couldn’t hear anything coming from the hallway leading to the library so he swum out as fast as he could. He crashed into the library, not even waking the ancient librarian behind the desk, and headed straight for the dark corner. When the library was built, the lifetimes worth of knowledge about humans was shoved deep into the library to keep small children from finding it and venturing to the surface. That hadn’t stopped people, though, stories were passed around through playgrounds and classrooms. By the time they were fully grown adults, everyone knew about the humans.

The first book Adrien opened was a dark green book with an image of a human spearing a mermaid through the tail on the cover. Underneath the gory image were the words ‘Humans: The Dark Truth’ in a curly silver script. Adrien opened to the contents page and looked through the headings. They ranged from human behaviour to different appearances, cultures and almost everything imaginable. The only problem with the information was that it was all biased. Every sentence painted humans as monsters that would steal your children and sell them to zoos. If you believed the book, you would end up thinking that all humans were the same, and even after a single experience with humans, Adrien could tell that wasn’t true.

Another book was pulled from the shelf and the original was put back. Each time, the books were filled with propaganda made to scare people, until Adrien reached the last shelf at the very back of the library. The book proudly stated it was an anthropology book and it was written by a human that didn’t know about the city under the seas, though it was written like a guide to human life. Perfect.

Adrien skimmed through chapters until he found the one about food. It stated that different people at different things based on where they lived, but over time those foods had spread out through the world and people ate what they wanted now.

Happy with the information, Adrien placed everything back the way it had been and left the library. He was reciting the list he had in his head, trying not to forget anything. “Seaweed, bread, fish, water. Seaweed, bread, fish, water.”

It was only four things to start with, but once the human had woken up she could ask for more food that she liked, and once she was back on land she could buy anything she wanted. Adrien felt sad at the thought. He didn’t want the human girl to leave. She had saved his life, and he felt like he owed her something in return. She had been thrown over the side of a ship for his safety, and he had dragged her further away from her home into a strange world that she knew nothing about. He felt bad about it. If he hadn’t gone up to the surface to escape his father for a night, she never would’ve been in that situation.

That decided it. He would wait for the human to be strong enough to swim back with him, apologise for everything and take her back to wherever she was heading, no matter how far away he had to travel. He had no real reason to stay in the palace, he could just start to live in the closest city to where the girl was going. Turn over a new leaf, start fresh somewhere else.


	6. Chapter 5: Information

As Adrien was swimming down the hallway towards the kitchen, he ran into the one person he didn’t want to see. Gabriel Agreste. His own father.

It wasn’t like they had a strained relationship, they didn’t have a relationship at all. Gabriel was working every hour of every day, Adrien was sure he saw him less than the King did. At least the King could order Gabriel around. Adrien could only wait and hope that he remembered he had a son.

Unfortunately, this was one of those rare times Gabriel did remember Adrien.

Gabriel swam closer, his face angrier than Adrien had ever seen in his lifetime. “Get into my office, now.”

Adrien dropped his head and followed behind Gabriel. He had always hated the office his father worked in. It was so clinical and lifeless like it was still empty. If it wasn’t for the huge portrait of his mother hanging behind the desk, Adrien would think no one used this room at all.

Adrien sat down in the hard wooden chair facing the painting. It was like Gabriel had positioned the room so you would have Emilie watching as Gabriel shouted at you. it was a little bit disconcerting, to say the least.

Gabriel inhaled deeply. He was mad at Adrien for putting his image at risk. He had seen his son swimming out the window the day before, and he hadn't seen him around since that morning. Wherever he had been, it was for over twenty-four hours. "Where were you?"

"I was in my room."

"For over and entire day? I find that hard to believe."

"You never believe me!" This was the first time Adrien had raised his voice at Gabriel, and Gabriel did not like it one bit.

"Did you shout at me?"

"No, Father, I'm sorry, I’m just emotional. Please." Adrien started to look frightened. He knew what his father was capable, what he had done. He was terrified that Gabriel would turn on him.

"Get out," Gabriel roared. Without thinking twice, Adrien fled the room. 

He had almost made it to the door when he crashed into the armchair that was sitting beside it. He gasped and Gabriel became even angrier.

"Adrien. Turn around." Gabriel was furious. He picked up the vase that was sitting on his desk held it in his hand. A sphere of water surrounded it, an advantage of working in a high ranking position. It came hurtling towards Adrien. It shattered before it hit Adrien. Shards dug into his chest and blood started to leak out of the lacerations and cuts and spread into the water.

Adrien cried out in pain and Gabriel snapped out of his rage. He called current to push Adrien back towards his own room until the water was too far from Gabriel to control. Adrien was forced to swim the rest of the way with the saltwater stinging his cuts and hoping that no one saw him.

He crashed through the door into his room, only to find the human trying to get out the window. When she saw him, she tried to scream, but Adrien reacted quicker and was in front of her in seconds, covering her mouth to keep her quiet. The last thing he needed half of the palace guards bursting into his room to find a human screaming her head off.

The girl fought Adrien until he whispered, “You need to stay quiet. You’ll only be able to breathe underwater for so long and if you scream that time will run out and you will drown.”

He could see the fear in her eyes when he took his hand away from her mouth. She instantly made another break for the window. Adrien grabbed her ankle before she could get anywhere. She whirled around. “Let me go! I have to get home! I’m going to drown!”

“You are not going to drown. I promise you, you will not drown. Please calm down so I can explain what’s happening better. I just have to deal with something and then we can talk.” Adrien turned away and pulled his shirt over his head. He heard the human gasp. She had seen his scars. The scars from the shark attacked that had killed his mother. The scars that his own father made him cover so he wouldn’t be reminded that it was Adrien’s fault.

“How did you get your scars?”

“I was swimming too close to the surface one day when I was a child and ran into a shark. It bit me just as my mother found me. She fought it off and told me to swim home as fast as I could. She didn’t come home. Bitten clean through. Everyone blames me.” Adrien tried to clean the cuts on his chest, but he couldn't. His hands were shaking too much after talking about his mother.

“My name is Marinette. I realised I hadn’t told you before now.” Marinette swam over to float in front of him, becoming more at ease with the water. “Let me help you.”

“You suddenly want to help? A few minutes ago you were trying to escape.”

Marinette sighed. “You have vulnerabilities. You seemed more human.”

“I’m half fish.”

“You know what I mean! At least now I don’t feel like you’re going to drown me.”

Adrien laughed. He hadn’t laughed in a while, the whole day had been stressful and he hadn’t eaten breakfast yet. That reminded him. Marinette would need food, too. “What do you eat?”

“I’ll eat anything, I’m too hungry too hungry to be picky.” Marinette finished disinfecting his cuts and started to wrap a bandage around his chest. Adrien raised his arms to make it easier for her.

When Marinette finished, Adrien moved his arms around and grabbed a new shirt from his drawers. “I will go and get you food. Stay here until I get back.”

Adrien swam down the hallway as fast as he could. If he was right, Gabriel would have barricaded himself in his office after his outburst, and wouldn’t return to society until much later that day or evening. That would give Adrien the time he needed to sneak around the city and the palace. He would be able to get the food Marinette needed, and possibly even take her to get one of the mythical Miraculous stones.

One task at a time though. Food first. Adrien could still hear Marinette saying that she would eat anything, but knew that she probably wouldn’t like the underwater versions of food. She would probably have questions about where most of the food came from and how it didn’t get damp or soggy so far under the ocean.

The kitchen was fairly busy when Adrien entered. The head chef was giving orders for all the food to be prepared for the grand feast that night. The leaders of other countries would be visiting to work on trade agreements, and tonight was the greeting before negotiations began the next day.

One of the chefs noticed Adrien and waved him over. “Adrien! It’s been so long since I last saw you! What would you like?”

“Can I just have a tray of food to eat in my room? I wouldn’t want to disturb any of your preparations.” Adrien didn’t want to let anyone know about the human in his room. He knew the consequences of humans being found in their city. The last merperson to bring a human down was put to death and the human was left in the dungeons to drown. 

“Of course.” A few minutes later, the chef returned with a tray of all of Adrien’s favourite foods. Hopefully, Marinette liked one of them. That was all Adrien could think about. Marinette. 

“Thank you.” Adrien left the kitchen, balancing everything carefully as he swam.

When he pushed the door open, Marinette was floating over near the window, apparently working out that if she relaxed enough, the water carried her and kept her suspended in ‘mid-air’. “I got you food.”

Marinette turned and pushed herself off the wall, lazily coming to a stop in front of Adrien. “I think I’m getting the hang of this underwater thing. The pressure is so weird down here.”

“We’re nearly two hundred metres under water.”

“What? It only seemed like a few metres down.”

Adrien handed her the tray. “You were unconscious for most of it.”

Marinette swum over to the bed, tray wobbling enough for the plates to clink. She sat down at the desk and guided the tray down. The magnets on the bottom of the tray and the desk clicked together and the tray was stuck in place. “What are all these things?”

“Sushi made with seaweed and a few other plants, fish sticks, cake called ‘Dolphin’s Tears’, and a salad made from some of what’s growing in the garden. There’s also some bread and a drink.” Adrien pointed each one out, some looking like something from land, while other things looked completely foreign to Marinette. One of the things she noticed first was that the drink was in something that was a cross between a Starbucks cup and a sippy cup you would give to a baby.

“You eat fish? Aren’t you half fish?”

“We’re in the same kind of category, just like you eat cows, despite both humans and cows being mammals. We’re not that far from your society, we just live in a different place. 

“There are some things we don’t eat, though. We don’t eat sharks as they clean the ocean and are too dangerous, like lions, and whales and dolphins are like your African animals. There are also pets here, like catfish and turtles, and the things too small to eat, like zooplankton. Some people just don’t eat anything living or from an animal, like your vegetarians and vegans. There are plenty of options under the sea.” Adrien tried to think of as many things to tell Marinette as he could. It felt good to be needed, even if it was just to deliver food and answer questions.

“Thank you, for everything.”

“You’re welcome, Marinette. Feel free to ask any more questions and I’ll do my best to answer them.” Adrien bowed and Marinette giggled. It was almost like they were good friends already.


	7. Chapter 6: Nino

The water was suffocating, like it was trying to pull the life from her slowly, painfully. Alya could feel her arms weakening and falling to her side, her legs slowing and dangling below her, as if she was in suspended animation. The fight was starting to leave her.

Alya’s life started to flash before her eyes. She saw her sisters, her parents, her home, the Pollen. Marinette smiling flashed through her mind, as well as her friends on the ship, everything that she had done. If she died she would never see the sky again, watch the sunset, see the stars. She should have gotten off the ship as soon as she could have. This wouldn’t have happened otherwise.

“No…” The last of the air bubbled out of Alya’s lungs and into the water, floating back to the surface. Everything was starting to go dark, but Alya was determined to fight her way out of this situation. She was a few metres from the surface when someone wrapped their arm around her waist and pulled her into the open air.

As soon as she could turn around Alya struggled in the mystery saviour’s arms and turned until she was staring into the eyes of a very shirtless merman. Alya let out a screech and pushed herself away, trying to escape.

“You don’t have to panic. I won’t hurt you.”

“Who are you?”

“My name is Nino Lahiffe.”

Alya looked at him questioningly, continuing to tread water. “Why should I believe you?”

“You don’t have to, but I know where your friend went and I can help you get her back to land. Only if you trust me.” Nino offered his hand to her, offering a way out, a way to safety.

“Okay. How do we get to Marinette?”

Nino gestured to the ocean. “I saw the son of the Royal Advisor pulling her back into the water. We’ll have to go back to the city to find them.”

“Let’s go.” Alya placed her hand into Nino’s. “How do we get down?”

Nino pulled the shield off his back and spun it around in the air. Almost as soon as it was completely in the air, the shield started to shrink. By the time he gave it to Alya, the shield was the same size as the bottom of a glass. “Hold this to your mouth. It was made to help people breathe underwater and revive merpeople if they were on land for too long.”

Alya followed Nino’s instructions and help the shield to her mouth. When she tried to breathe, the shield made a whistling sound for a few seconds before it was quiet again and Alya couldn’t even tell she was holding it. It was like it was floating on its own. “What is this?”

“A shield. I’m supposed to be part of the palace guard training program but I just stopped going. It was interfering too much with my life and I hated it more than anything else. I left and took the shield with me. Repainted it and everything as some kind of rebellion.”

“I know the feeling.” It was true. Alya had left because she was sick of her life, like Nino had stopped training to be a palace guard because he hated the life it was forcing him to live. She had left Paris because it was boring, but she could imagine the same drills and messages over and over could get repetitive and boring, too.

“Let’s go.” Nino grabbed Alya’s arm and dragged her underwater. Alya gasped in shock and prepared to start choking on water, but could breathe normally. The shield was working its magic.

“Where?” Alya was even more shocked when she could talk normally. She expected her words to sound watery and drowned, but it was like the water wasn’t even there. It was bizarre.

“The sewer system of the city. I have a dance club down there that I DJ at every night. You should be able to hide there until we can reuse your friend and get you both back to the surface.” Nino pulled Alya through the depths of the ocean, picking up speed as he swam. Alya felt like she was just a dead weight dragging behind him, even though she knew she wasn’t as much of a burden as she could have been.

The city came into view sooner than Alya had expected it to. She hadn't realised that Nino was swimming as fast as he had, and after hearing how deep underwater the city was, Alya expected the journey would have been longer.

"Amazing, isn't it. I never get any less than amazed whenever I see this."

"I can't believe you live down here. Sure, Paris is beautiful, but this is something else."

Sparkling in front of Alya was the most beautiful sight she had ever laid her eyes upon in her entire life. She had seen the Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower at night, the works of art in the Louvre, but nothing compared to this. The city was a wonderful sight.

“We’ll have to sneak in. You’re human, and if we get caught we’ll probably be both dragged to the city prisons.”

“What?” There was no way that a city so beautiful was so brutal. Putting two people in prison, just because a human found their way down. Even if the human went back to the surface and tried to tell everyone else about what they found, no one would believe them. Instead of being celebrated as some kind of hero, they would probably be thrown into a mental hospital and left to rot.

Nino and Alya reached the ocean floor, and Nino started pulling Alya along behind him, almost pulling her along the sand. “The entrance to the sewers is up here, then its only a short swim to the club.”

They swam in silence for a few minutes until a man hole cover came into view, partially covered in sand. Nino brushed the sand aside and opened the cover, revealing a hole leading down into the ground. He gestured to the hole and Alya swam into the hole, moving as fast as she could. Nino followed, pulling the cover back into place behind him.

A light pulsed at the end of the tunnel, pulling Alya closer and closer to it. When she reached the light, she was in a large room, with pipes leading in from every direction.

Nino caught up to her. He pointed down into the depths below. “We still have to go down there.”

At the bottom, Alya could see flashing lights of different colours, and she could hear cheering. The club must still be open, despite it being the next morning. “Are there still people down there?”

“There are people here nearly all day. The sewers are the best place to get away from real life, and its easy to travel down here without being caught by the guards and police.”

“But why do you have sewers filled with water when you live in the ocean?”

“They used to be for another city before this. You’ve heard of Atlantis, right?”

“Everyone has, but its just a story. There’s nothing that proves that it was real.”

“There was nothing to prove merpeople are real, but I’m right here.” Nino pointed to himself. “When Atlantis sunk, the sewers were busted open and water flooded in. There are old ruins somewhere, but no one has found them yet.

“That’s what the city used to be. Now it doesn’t have a name, mostly so no one can put all the information together if anything gets back to the surface. No one must know about us. It would be too dangerous.”

Alya and Nino reached the bottom of the pit and was hit in the face by the blinding lights. She was instantly sucked into the atmosphere around her until Nino pulled her away. They ended up in a small side room away from the noise.

“How do we get Marinette out?”

“Adrien probably would have taken her to the castle, and she would probably be hidden away from everyone in his room. We would have to bust into the castle and kidnap her back, but we won’t be able to do it without help or powers.”

“Where are we going to get those powers from? I’m a human and you’re just one merman.”

Nino swam to his bookshelf and pulled out an old book of fairy tales. “There’s an old tale about some Miraculous stones that can give the wielder incredible powers. I’ve heard rumours about where they are now, so if we can get them we can fight our way in, give Marinette another Miraculous and get back to the surface. We can all hide and hopefully we won’t get caught.”

“What happens if we do get caught?”

“We go to the dungeon and rot there forever, or until they decide to get rid of us once and for all. I’ve heard the tales about criminals being thrown into the deepest abyss near the city. They get weighted down so they keep sinking into the dark. No one ever gets out, there are too many creatures lurking down there.”

“Great. Let’s go.”


	8. Chapter 7: Arrest

Gabriel knew something was wrong as soon as Adrien talked back to him. His son never talked back. Adrien had been raised his entire life to be quiet and respectful, to blend into the background and never get into the way. In less than forty-eight hours, Adrien had snuck out of the palace and completely disappeared, and when he returned he was a disrespectful little brat.

Where had he gone that had changed him so dramatically? Gabriel racked his brain for a few minutes, thinking about where Adrien would have gone. If he had stayed in the city, one of the guards would have sent him back as soon as he was spotted, so it would have to be somewhere else.

One thought stopped Gabriel in his tracks. Adrien must have gone up to the surface. There had been some whispers about Adrien swimming with someone, and if he went up to the surface, it would have been a human. His son had come into contact with a human, and it might still be in the palace.

He would get answers, and Adrien’s behaviour would stop. As the Royal Advisor’s son, he had to be the paragon of children. He had no other choice.

Gabriel shot through the hallways, forcing anyone else to jump out of his way. He had no consideration for anyone else moving around, completely focused on getting around as fast as possible. If Adrien was doing anything suspicious, it would be best to catch him soon.

Leaving his office so soon after shouting at Adrien was outside Gabriel’s normal behaviour, and he knew it. Adrien would think he was still in his office, and would probably be off doing something that he shouldn’t be.

The first place Gabriel checked was the library. He knew about the books hidden in the back of the library, he had used the information in one of them years ago, and the book was still hidden in his office. There were some things he wanted to keep in the dark…

The library was empty, no Adrien in sight. That was one less place for Gabriel to look. If he needed help to look, he could shout at some of the countless servants in the palace. He was the Royal Advisor, they had to help him or risk their jobs. Of course, that didn’t give him too good of a reputation, but why would he care when he was so close to true power?

The library was empty, except from the sleepy old librarian. Gabriel headed straight to the back of the library where all the hidden books were. The books had been moved around. Adrien had been in here. He knew something he wasn’t supposed to.

Gabriel turned red in anger. If Adrien believed that humans weren’t dangerous, he could bring Gabriel’s entire plan crashing to the ocean floor. For everything to work, Adrien had to believe that the safest place in the world was in the palace, with his father. If Adrien left, everything would fall apart.

“I will not let this happen! I lost Emilie, and this is my one chance to bring her back! I will not lose Adrien, too!” Gabriel left the library with a slam of doors. If that human was still in Adrien’s room, there would be dire consequences.

Adrien’s room was far enough away from the library that Gabriel had time to adjust his plan around Adrien’s new discovery. Rather than just let Adrien continue to believe that humans were monsters, he would have to show Adrien the truth. Humans were never to be trusted, no matter how nice they appeared.

Gabriel swam to a stop and floated outside Adrien’s door, tailing tense and hand raised. He listened for a few seconds, not too long, but long enough to hear two voices inside. Adrien’s voice, and a voice belonging to a girl. Gabriel thought, ‘It must be the human,’ and knocked on the door loudly.

From behind the door, the voices dropped from their conversational tone and volume to hushed, frantic whispers. Gabriel pushed the door open seconds after he had knocked to see two human legs disappearing under Adrien’s bed.

“What is the meaning of this,” Gabriel boomed loudly, his voice nearly shaking the walls. The water started to get agitated around him, reflecting his emotions.

“Father! You’re out of your office soon. How can I help you?”

“I know you have a human in this room, and I would suggest turning her over right now before I am forced to take some… drastic measures.” Gabriel gave Adrien the only warning he would give, knowing full well he would call the guards regardless of Adrien’s cooperation.

Adrien gritted his teeth. He had promised Marinette that he would get her back to land safely, and he wasn’t going to hand her over to the Royal Advisor, even though it was his own father. “I have no one in this room but myself.”

“I feared you might say that. Guards! There is a human in my son’s bedroom! I think he is in danger!” Gabriel knew the guards would come rushing at the mention of a human. The laws were strict, and every guard was sworn to uphold them.

Guards burst through the door, spears out as they searched for the human. They searched everywhere in the room, rustling through Adrien’s clothes, cupboards, and anything else large enough to hide a person. Finally, the guards reached Adrien’s bed. Two guards flipped the bed while four others waved their spears under the bed. As soon as the girl was visible, another guard grabbed her and hauled her upright.

Handcuffs were clapped around the girl’s hands and she was dragged from the room, kicking and struggling. She seemed strong, but the guards were stronger. The girl had no chance.

She started screaming, “Let me go! Unhand me immediately! I did nothing wrong!”

Adrien moved to the door as quicker than lightning. “Stop! Put her down!”

None of the guards even looked at him and only responded by pushing Marinette further out the door. “We’re following orders, there’s nothing you can do.”

The doors slammed behind the guards, leaving Gabriel and Adrien standing in the room, alone. “See what happens when you leave the palace? You’ve been told your entire life that you should stay here, but you disobey it and threaten everyone in the city! What if she had revealed our presence?”

“Marinette would never! She’s a nice person!”

“THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A NICE HUMAN!” Gabriel screamed at Adrien. “I will make sure you never leave this palace again, consider yourself lucky if you ever leave this room!”

“You’re pathetic.” Adrien couldn’t help himself.

“I am your father, and you will not speak to me like that! You have become a rude, ungrateful, disrespectful, loud brat and I will not tolerate your behaviour! Tomorrow, you will begin shadowing me to learn about your future position as Royal Advisor to Prince Ali and you will not complain!”

Gabriel turned and left the room, looking for the nearest guard. A few doors down, there was a guard returning to his post after Marinette was apprehended, and Gabriel pointed to him. “You! I want more guards around the palace, and I want the grounds in lockdown. If one human can break into a room here, others will be able to. Put bars on the windows in my son’s room, as well as the windows of any guest rooms and council rooms, including the king’s and prince’s.”

“Of course, Royal Advisor.” The guard bowed and rushed off, searching for the head guard.

Once the entire palace was in lockdown, Adrien would never be able to leave without his father’s permission. Gabriel’s plan was once again on track and there wasn’t anything else that could stop it. Emilie would come back, and then he could finally take the crown that he knew he deserved.

Until now, Gabriel had been forced to play the part of Royal Advisor despite clearly being better suited for the role of a king. With an iron fist, he would fix the kingdom’s problems one by end, and over time he would take over land, forcing the humans into hiding like mermaids and mermen had been since the dawn of their existence.

The only thing he needed was two Miraculous; the Ladybug and the Cat. When he was king, he could order searches of every house in the city and find whoever was hiding the Miraculous from him. With the power they granted, he could completely reform the kingdom and make himself the ultimate ruler of the world. No one would dare question him, and he could rule with Emilie by his side.

It would all be perfect, and as soon as that pesky human girl Marinette was executed, Adrien would know his place and never step out of line again. Gabriel could shape him to be the next king and his legacy could continue forever.

“I promise Emilie. I’m doing this for you, and for us. Just forgive me for what I do.”


	9. Chapter 8: Master Fu

How could he? Why would he care so much? The only time his own father cared about what he was doing was when Adrien shouted at him, and only a little. For the first time in nearly fifteen years, Adrien had lost control of his emotions and now Marinette was going to die because of it.

He cursed himself. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why didn’t he think everything through before he helped Marinette? Why did he think bringing her down to the only place in the world humans were banned instead of just swimming her to another continent, even an island?

Because this was his fault, Adrien had to rescue her. He locked the door to his bedroom, hoping to slow down anyone his father would send to check on him and waited a few moments to compose himself.

Adrien whirled around and tried to open the window, though somehow it had gotten stuck and Adrien couldn’t open it. Either one of the guards had done something when they were searching his room, or he had slammed it so hard himself it refused to move. Cursing, Adrien balled his hand into a fist and smashed the window open. It shattered immediately, pieces of glass piercing his skin and the rest falling towards the sandy sea floor.

‘I have to move quickly; a guard will have heard the noise. They’ll be here soon.’ With that thought, Adrien propelled himself out the window and into the yard behind it.

Instead of heading straight to the dungeons where Marinette would be, Adrien headed to the nearest manhole cover. His only real chance of breaking Marinette out of the dungeon would be if he had at least one Miraculous. Otherwise, he would have no chance against the guards that would be put around the ‘dangerous’ human in case she tried to escape.

The abandoned sewers used to be somewhere Adrien wished he could be all the time, away from the expectations and his father. Unfortunately, now they were less of an escape and more of a last chance to save Marinette. He would find the Guardian of the Miraculous from the tales, and he would get a Miraculous.

When Marinette was safe on land again, he would probably have to leave forever. One final betrayal would push Gabriel over the edge, and he would keep Adrien locked away like a princess in a tower. No one should have to live that life and it was finally time he got some freedom, away from the palace.

Even though he had never ventured this far into the sewers before, Adrien knew where he was going, as if something was pulling him along, leading him somewhere deep in the sewer system.

After nearly ten minutes of constant swimming the sewers changed from the slightly cleaner, lighter sewers to something that looked like an abandoned tunnel system. It was clear that this place wasn’t somewhere people just happened to stumble, it was somewhere you had to be shown.

At the end of the last tunnel there was a door. It was falling apart and looked like someone had rushed to prop it back up in its place. Nevertheless, it was a door and it must lead somewhere.

The instant Adrien touched the door it let out an eerie squeak that echoed off every surface near him. Adrien spun around, making sure on one had heard the sound, if anyone was following him at all. Even though it was ridiculously unlikely, paranoia flooded Adrien. If his father found out about this, his life would be over.

Even though he thought no one was around, the door opened in front of Adrien and he saw an old man with a cane. He was hunched over, leaning heavily on the cane. “Ah, Adrien Agreste, I’ve been expecting you. Please, come in.”

Adrien followed the old man inside. From the inside, it looked like the inside of this room would be dingy and run-down, but everything was clean, no algae anywhere.

The room opened to reveal an even larger room with a large mat attached to the centre of the floor and different drawers around the room. On one wall there was a large tapestry, and on the opposite side of the room, there was a gramophone sitting on a side table.

Floating above the gramophone, a wise looking turtle watched as Adrien entered the room. Even though it didn’t speak, Adrien knew there was something larger going on, bigger than him or anything he was trying to accomplish.

“We are only waiting for two more people. You all have similar goals and I think you will be able to work together to save the life of Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

“How do you know about her? And who are you? I’ve never seen you around before, even when I was allowed to leave the palace.” Adrien was confused. First, he had been led down a sewer drain by something that wasn’t even there, now there was an old man spouting information that he shouldn’t have.

The old man sat on the mat in the middle of the floor. He gestured for Adrien to join him. “My name is Master Fu. I am the last Guardian of the Miraculous. I know more than you need to know, and I can tell the only think you are thinking of is saving the human girl. I can help you with that.”

Adrien was about to reply when there was another knock on the door. The turtle that had been floating above the gramophone moved faster than Adrien had expected it to be able to and opened the door so Master Fu didn’t have to. At the door, there were two more people, the two people Master Fu had been talking about.

“Nino Lahiffe and Alya Cesaire, please, join us.” Alya and Nino looked at each other, equally confused about Master Fu knowing who they were. Only a few seconds later, they decided to swim inside.

As soon as Alya’s eyes locked onto Adrien she started to turn red. Adrien didn’t know what she was about to do, but instinctively backed away form her. Alya began to shout and point straight into Adrien’s face. “You! Where is Marinette? You were the fish boy that she saved! She got thrown overboard because of you!”

Nino grabbed Alya around the waist, holding her back. “Alya, Alya, calm down. Adrien might be the only way to find Marinette again.”

“This is still his fault. If he had just stayed down here and stayed away from the surface Marinette would have never been dragged down here! You better help us, or I will make sure you never see that stupid palace again!”

Master Fu watched and waited silently until Alya stopped trying to attack Adrien. When he was sure they were finished, he began to speak again. He had already had two pieces of jewellery in his hand. “As the Guardian of the Miraculous, it is my duty to give Miraculous stones to those who are pure at heart and will use them to protect other people. The three of you have shown qualities of a great hero, and as you all have a single goal, you will be the perfect start to a hero team.

“Adrien Agreste, I gift to you the power of destruction and the Cat Miraculous. It is one half of the Ultimate Power. Use it wisely. Alya Cesaire, I gift to you the power of illusion and the Fox Miraculous. Your Miraculous will assist Chat Noir in battle. Nino Lahiffe, I gift to you the power of protection and the Turtle Miraculous. You will be the rock of the team and make sure no one is injured during a battle.” Master Fu gave Adrien and Alya their Miraculous, before nodding at the turtle in the corner and taking the bracelet off his wrist. The turtle was sucked back into the bracelet and Master Fu handed it to Nino.

When the three new heroes put their Miraculous for the first time, a small animal appeared in front of each of them. Adrien had a small black catfish in front of him. It opened its vibrant green eyes. “My name is Plagg, I’m your new kwami, do you have any cheese? Preferably camembert.”

Alya had a foxfish in front of her. It was a small orange fish with a single white spot on its back. “Hello, my name is Trixx and I am the kwami of the Fox Miraculous!”

Nino had the turtle from a few seconds ago in front of him. It opened its eyes placidly and spoke. “Greetings, master. I am Wayzz, the kwami of the Turtle Miraculous. To transform, say ‘Wayzz, shell on’, and you will become a hero.”

“If you wish to transform, say ‘Trixx, let’s pounce’!”

There was silence for a few moments before Plagg realised he had to tell his holder what to say to transform. “It’s ‘Plagg, claws out’, but I want cheese first.”

Everyone was about to transform when Alya said, “We should come up with a plan to rescue Marinette.”

“In two days’ time, we rescue her from the dungeons. My father doesn’t have the power to order someone’s execution immediately, even if they are a human. He has to get approval from the king.”

“Then we should break her out now, before he can even get to the king. We just bust in and take her back to land and we can get on with our lives!”

“No, Gabriel will be expecting Adrien to try something stupid straight away. We should wait. If something comes up, send your kwami to my club and we’ll meet back here to make a new plan.”

Everyone nodded and Alya and Nino turned to leave without another word.

“Adrien, before you go, I think this will help you. When you reach the dungeon and free Marinette, give her these.” Master Fu handed Adrien a pair of Ladybug themed earrings. “These are the other half to your ring, and the holder will become your superhero partner. I trust that you will keep these safe until the time is right.”

“Thank you, Master Fu.” Adrien bowed his head and took the earrings, closing his hand around them gently. “I won’t let you down.”

“Good luck. You will need it.”

Adrien swum out the door and headed back to the castle. He was sure that someone would have discovered the window by now, and he could only hope that he could think of a good enough excuse.


	10. Chapter 9: Emilie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Character death in this chapter

When Adrien finally managed to sneak back into his room Gabriel was sitting on a chair in front of the window. Adrien froze. “Ah, I can explain.”

“You don’t need to, Adrien. I know what’s happening. The smashed window made everything clear.” Gabriel was too calm. Something was wrong. “It became clear to me as soon as I entered the room that someone had tried to break in and your only option was to escape out the window and hide. Extra security measures are going to be put in place now that you are home and safe.”

He knew. He knew that Adrien had broken out, this was just an attempt to make Adrien feel like he had gotten away with everything. Adrien tightened his grip on the earrings and waited for Gabriel’s inevitable rage.

“What safety precautions are those?”

Gabriel completely ignored the question. “As there would only be one person malicious enough to coordinate a break in to the palace, we have only one suspect. I know it was the human girl using some kind of human technology we do not know about to control our citizens and attempt to harm you. For her crimes, she will be executed tomorrow evening, exactly on sundown at the surface.”

No. No, this wasn’t happening. There was no way that he could live with himself if Marinette was executed. He would have let everyone down. Alya, Nino, Master Fu, himself. Adrien stared straight at Gabriel. “I won’t let you do that.”

“Adrien, you don’t get a choice. The papers only need my signature and everything will be official. The king has already approved. That reminds me, tomorrow, you will be shadowing me to learn about the job of Royal Advisor, as you will be taking over when Prince Ali is crowned. I don’t want to hear any arguments and I expect you to be ready to leave at eight o’clock in the morning tomorrow. I will send someone to collect you.”

“Yes, father.” Adrien let his shoulders slump. If he was with his father all day, there wouldn’t be a chance to rescue Marinette. Alya and Nino would probably charge in without thinking, try to fight all the guards in the palace, get arrested and possibly get executed next to Marinette tomorrow.

Gabriel left, and Adrien heard a lock click. Apparently, in the time that he was gone someone had broken his locks on the door and replaced them with locks that could only be locked or unlocked from the outside of the room.

Adrien swum over to the window and looked out, checking for guards. There were two patrolling along the side of the palace, swimming back and forth along the wall. They’d get to Adrien before Adrien could get to the sewer systems. That left only one option.

“Plagg!” Adrien hoped Plagg had stayed outside the window, or at least out of sight.

“Do you have cheese for me yet?” Plagg appeared from underneath the windowsill.

“Not yet, but lunch will be here in about ten minutes and I can get you camembert then, if you deliver a message to Nino and Alya for me.”

“Fine, but I better get my camembert for this.”

“Tell them that Marinette will be executed tomorrow at sundown in we don’t hurry. Alya needs to use her illusion powers to create a distraction so I can sneak away from my father and help them.”

Plagg swum out the window. Adrien watched as he disappeared off into the distance. He knew it would be a fair amount of time before he returned, so he would just have to occupy himself until then.

Three minutes later, Adrien found himself floating around lazily, propelling himself around with tiny hand movements. Since he couldn’t escape again, and there was very little to entertain himself with inside his room.

What felt like seconds later, there was a knock on the door. The lock clicked open and a servant appeared, holding a tray covered in food. She placed it on the table and returned to where she was standing in the door. “Is there anything else I can bring you, Mister Agreste?”

“If you don’t mind, I need some camembert. And please, keep this information away from the head chef and my father. It’s quite personal.”

“Of course.” The woman bowed, something Adrien always thought was weird, mostly because he wasn’t part of the royal family, and left the room. The only thing left was to wait for Plagg to arrive back after delivering his message, and then everything would fall into place.

|||

The next morning rolled around and Gabriel waited in his office for Adrien to be escorted to him. While he waited, he spoke to the portrait of Emilie, acting like it was his real wife. “I’m sorry, Emilie, but this is the only way forward. I can’t lose Adrien to the humans like I lost you.”

The portrait stared back, unmoving, unblinking, and Gabriel as thrown back into the worst memory he had. The day Adrien was nearly killed and the day Emilie was ripped from their lives forever.

_ ”Adrien! Don’t go near the surface!” Emilie was swimming after the tiny boy, trying to keep up with her son. _

_ _

_ ”But Mama, I saw a big fish!” Adrien pointed to a dark shape over their heads, only pausing for a moment before he took off after the ‘fish’ again. _

_ _

_ Gabriel realised what the shadow was a second too late. “Adrien! No! That’s not a fish!” _

_ _

_ Emilie screamed and threw herself after Adrien. Gabriel tried to reach them, but the shark reached them first. It tried to take a bite out of Adrien, but Emilie got in it’s way. Jaws clamped down around her waist and blood started to seep into the water. Gabriel watched in horror as Emilie slowly died in front of him, using the last of her life to push Adrien towards Gabriel. “Run…” _

_ _

_ Right in front of Gabriel’s eyes, a net dropped into the water and scooped Emilie up, lifting her out of the water and into the air. It was humans. Gabriel felt his heart harden. Humans forced them into hiding, took the few merpeople that swum near the surface, and now they had taken his wife. _

_ _

_ ”Papa, where is Mama going?” Adrien tugged on his father’s shirt. When Gabriel looked down, he looked into his son’s bright green eyes that reminded him so much of Emilie. Somehow, in the chaos, Adrien had been injured and now had a few deep cuts across his chest. _

_ _

_ Gabriel knew he had to get out of the area and keep his son away from the shark and the humans. It would be what Emilie wanted, after all. “Mama is going away for a while, but I promise she’s going to come back.” _

There was a knock on the door and Adrien slowly entered the room. “Hello, Father.”

“Adrien, I see you finally arrived.” Gabriel checked his clock, making sure it was late enough in the morning to send the final execution order to the dungeons. “Deliver this to the dungeons within ten minutes and return here immediately afterwards.”

“Yes, Father.” Adrien took the paper out of Gabriel’s hands and headed back out the door.

Gabriel gave him a final warning. “Don’t try to meddle with matters that are bigger than you, Adrien. You cannot change what is going to happen.”

The door closed and Gabriel returned to behind his desk. He still had work to do, even though he was technically babysitting his teenage son. The first thing on his list was delivering the execution order, followed by choosing a personal assistant. There was a large stack of applications sitting on his desk, full of people wanting to get the benefits of working in the palace.

After nearly half an hour of reviewing applications, Adrien still hadn’t returned. He must have been meddling, or trying to keep the order away from the dungeons.

Gabriel shook his head. Adrien was only delaying the inevitable. Humans were always caught and executed, whether it was soon after their arrival or once time had passed. There were rules in place to protect to people in the kingdom, and there was no way Adrien Agreste was going to be the first to break them successfully.

If only he could see why Gabriel was doing this. Maybe then he wouldn’t try to defy everything Gabriel said, maybe he would see it from another perspective for a short time. If he knew what humans had done to their family, he might not be so willing to help another two-legged monster escape.

It was time for desperate measures. The last plan he had was about to begin. If he used a Miraculous to create villains to threaten the king and prince, he could blame everything on the Guardian of the Miraculous and begin a search of the kingdom. Once he had both the Miraculous and the Guardian, he could bring back Emilie and make a better world for his family.

The portrait of Emilie was opened and the safe behind it was opened. Gabriel grabbed the brooch and clipped it onto his shirt. A kwami appeared in front of him, curled into a small ball. “Hello, Master.”

“We don’t have time for this, Nooroo.”

The kwami immediately quieted.

“Nooroo, dark wings rise!” Gabriel was replaced by Hawk Moth, who strode out of the room, ready to look for his son. Once he knew where Adrien was, he could use the prisoners in the dungeon to create an army and storm the throne room.

This WOULD work. There was no other option.


	11. Chapter 10: Heroes

Adrien darted out the window and headed towards the sewer entrance. Through a window on his way to the dungeons, he had seen them peeking out of the manhole. If they were here, it was time to rescue Marinette from the dungeon. Even though it was assumed that one of them would send a kwami, but apparently not.

The earrings were in a pouch wrapped tightly around his chest and his ring was on his finger. Plagg was tucked away in his shirt, munching on another wheel of camembert. If Chat Noir was needed in a hurry, Adrien wanted Plagg to be ready to transform at a moment’s notice.

“What are you doing here? This wasn’t part of the plan!” Adrien was swimming faster and faster to catch up.

“Well, we didn’t really have a plan. You just said that you were going to be trapped with your father all day we thought we should just break in.” Alya casually spun her flute around, flipping it through her fingers and rolling it across the back of her palm.

“You’re going to get yourselves killed.” It was time. Marinette was going to be free. Adrien sighed and prepared to transform. “Plagg, claws out!”

With a groan from Plagg, Adrien turned into Chat Noir.

“Wow, dude, you look totally awesome!” Nino gestured to Chat Noir’s outfit. Even Adrien could admit he looked pretty cool as a superhero. They all did.

Chat Noir was wearing a skin tight black leather shirt that fitted from his neck to his waist. It attached to the cat gloves on his hands, and even those had cat characteristics with claws on the end of the fingers. Adrien’s tail had also changed. Instead of being plain green, it had turned black with a green shine when the light hit it. To finish everything off, he wore a cat tail belt that had a loop to hold his baton, black cat ears and a black mask that covered the area around his eyes and pointed down onto the bridge of his nose. It was one of the coolest things he had worn in his entire life. Even his Miraculous had changed. It had turned into a matte black ring with a neon green paw print on it.

“Even your eyes changed.” Adrien flicked his baton into his hand to look at himself in his reflection. Nino was right, the whites of his eyes had turned completely green.

“My costume is the best, hands down.” Rena Rouge had a loose orange shirt with a white shape down the middle, like the stomach of a fox. She also had larger ears than Chat Noir. They had white tips and sat in the same place as Chat’s, but hers sat against her head instead of being stuck straight up. Her sleeves flared out to rounded ends, and there was a long tail trailing her, also tipped with white. Black gloves covered her hands and her mask was orange on the top half, white on the bottom, and above her eyes were two cute little eyebrows. Her tail was orange with a black flipper. She looked like someone you would see reading fortunes at a circus.

“I have goggles, not just weird masks, I think I win.” Carapace flipped his shield onto his other arm, before waving his arm over his costume. He wore a tight green shirt with a turtle pattern covering most of his chest and his arms bared. His tail had changed and was now covered in green turtle-shell patterns, rather than his usual dark blue. Over his head, attached to the shirt was a dark green hood and green goggles with orange glass, the same size as Alya and Adrien’s masks. Strapped to his back was a shield that looked similar to the one he already owned, but now it looked like it could protect him pretty much anything. It was dark green on the outside, and the side closest to Nino was a lighter green, sticking to the turtle theme.

On the whole, they all looked amazing.

“Let’s go break Marinette out of jail!" Rena threw her fist into the air, twirling her flute around for good measure. Both boys followed suit, Carapace with his shield strapped to his arm, and Chat with his baton reflecting all the near-by light.

They headed towards the closest window, sneaking along the ground to avoid being spotted. Chat Noir lead the way, heading straight towards the dungeons. After a few minutes of swimming, they came across the heavy wooden door. Two guards stood in front of it, and as soon as they saw the trio appear they pointed their spears at them. “Halt.”

Rena Rouge swum forward, holding her flute at her side. “Now, we don’t want to fight. We just have to get somebody out of there and then we’ll be on our way.”

“We are not authorised to let anyone pass through these doors.” Neither guard moved.

“I guess we’ll just have to let ourselves through.” Carapace swam forward, readying his shield. Chat moved forward too, ready to fight.

The guards rushed forward, spears aimed to injure or kill. Without thinking, Chat leapt into action and smacked one spear out of the guards hands with his baton, while Rena took care of the other. Carapace knocked both guards out with his shield and they continued. The door was locked, but that problem was soon solved when Carapace just burst through the door.

They descended the stairs into the dimly lit room. They each started to look through the cells, not knowing where exactly Marinette was. The dungeons were huge, and when you looked from one end to the other, it looked like they ran forever.

“We have no chance of finding her like this. We need to split up. Rena, you take the left, Carapace you take the right, I’ll keep looking down the middle. Good luck.” Rena and Carapace nodded, about to leave.

“Trespassers, stop where you are!” Someone had tripped the alarm and the doorway was starting to fill with guards, all armed.

Rena spun her flute around her fingers, bringing it up to her mouth. “In a few seconds, hide.”

Chat and Carapace waited, ready to disappear into the darkness. Rena blew into the flute and played a few notes, before she flicked it over her shoulder and swam at the guards as fast as she could.

“Mirage!”

Right in front of everyone’s eyes, an image appeared. It was all three heroes, but they were moving from where they stood right over the guards heads, swimming past as if it were nothing. The illusions swum straight out the door as the real heroes hid.

“After them!” Just as Rena had hoped, the guards turned tail and chased after the illusions. She turned to Carapace and Chat Noir, ready to keep moving.

“What are those fish? And why are there so many of them all of a sudden?” Carapace shifted his shield onto his back while keeping a wary eye on the fish approaching them.

Chat Noir shook his head. There were usually no fish in the dungeons at all, bar the occasional lost one. Seeing this many, and all at once, was off-putting. “I recognise these from my studies. They’re butterfly fish.”

“I don’t care what they are, they’re creeping me out. Let’s just find Marinette and get out of here.”

Slowly, the water was starting to fill with butterfly fish. They turned the water inky purple, with only a few stripes of white across the fish. As the fish moved, they pushed into cells and starting crowding around the criminal in each cell.

“I hope you didn’t mean to release a prisoner of the city.” Just as things were taking a turn for the worst, someone else just had to interfere with their plans. “You see, my akumas are quite fond of each prisoner here, including the human girl, even though she is running out of time.”

A man emerged from the shoals of fish, a mask covering most of his face. He wore the jacket and shirt from a suit, with a brooch pinned where there should be a tie. His tail was dark purple and there was something about him that didn’t quite fit.

He was a Miraculous holder, but he didn’t have the best intentions in his heart. He was evil, and Chat Noir could tell.

“Who are you?” Chat pointed his baton through the fish at him, readying himself to fight, again.

“I am Hawk Moth, and I am here to stop you making a decision you will regret. Of course, to do that, you must surrender your Miraculous.”

“Never. We are doing the right thing. Marinette should have never been imprisoned.”

Hawk Moth sighed. “You always were like your mother. It must have been all those stories she told you as a child.”

“Father? How did you recognise me?” Chat was confused. His mask was supposed to hide his identity entirely, his tail had changed colour and his scars were hidden, so there were no identifying features still visible.

“There was only one other person who knew about the girl, and you are the only one who still does not accept that this is the way thinks work. When you snuck out the final time, and when you didn’t return from a simple task, I knew you had come here.”

“Release Marinette.”

“Now, now, Adrien. I can tell that these two,” Hawk Moth paused to find the right word, “anarchists have put ideas into your mind. I forgive you, as you are only young. Just hand me the Miraculous you have and we can forget this ever happened.”

“Never.”

“Very well. I’m sorry that this is how you are reacting.” Hawk Moth raised his hands into the air. “Attack them.”

Butterfly fish starting attaching themselves to each criminal, completely covering their bodies. Seconds later the fish disappeared, leaving the criminals behind as villains. They all obeyed Hawk Moth, leaping towards the heroes.

Carapace grabbed his friends and pulled them close. He threw his shield over their heads, ready to call his power. “I didn’t know busting one human out of jail was going to be this much drama.”

“I just hope you’re both ready to fight.” Chat looked at the villains that were approaching them. He knew that he could fight them, but someone would have to get Marinette out and give her a Miraculous.

Rena and Carapace squared their shoulders, speaking in unison. “Always.”


	12. Chapter 11: Ladybug

“I can’t believe you would do this. You can’t change things that have already happened!” Chat was filled with turmoil. His insides were a bubbling pot of conflicting emotions, confused and hurt and sad and angry all at the same time.

“If I have both Miraculous, I can change whatever I wish.” His plan was already falling into place. Once everything was well on its way to being destroyed, Gabriel could rush to the King and alert the guards that there were vigilantes breaking into the dungeon.

With the right words, he could convince everyone that he was the only thing that had stopped them, instantly earning him more trust and possibly more power. Once he had more power, he could order a search of every corner and crevice of the city, finding the rest of the Miraculous and granting his Ultimate Wish.

“But why? Is your life not enough for you?” Chat tried to change his father’s mind. He didn’t want to, no, couldn’t accept that his father was so intent on destroying everything to get what he wanted. 

“My life, our lives would be better with your mother back, why can’t you believe me, Adrien? Have I lied to you before?”

“You’ve barely been around me before this! After Marinette was here, you suddenly payed too much attention to me, tried to keep me trapped inside a room, you tried to make me think like you, act like you! I am not like you!”

Hawk Moth pointed at Chat Noir, his face scrunching up into anger. “I am your father, and you are more like me than you will ever realise! I am right and you are wrong, because I am an adult and have seen more of the world than you ever will!”

“You do not get to control me or my life ever again!” Chat screamed.

“Bring him to me!” Hawk Moth threw his arm forward and the akumas started to move towards the heroes.

Rena Rouge and Carapace were suddenly by Chat Noir’s side.

“I only have a couple of minutes before I transform back!” Rena smacked an advancing akuma away with her flute.

“I can give you protection for long enough that we can escape, but you will have to fight until we get back.” Carapace smashed his shield into another akuma, sending him flying back through the crowd.

“I can fight, you need to recharge your kwamis.”

“Shell-ter!” Carapace held his shield over his head and a larger shield appeared from the edges, surrounding the heroes, and slamming down in front of their attackers. “I only have a few minutes!”

“Send them back as far as you can!”

Carapace focused on the shield and threw his arms out to the side. The barrier flew apart, trapping akumas and punching them through the walls and roof of the dungeons. The shield disintegrated and Rena and Carapace took off through a hole in the roof and into the ocean.

Chat Noir was alone, but the akumas that weren’t completely unconscious struggled towards him.

Hawk Moth was shouting, summoning more butterflies to create a new army. “Bring me the miraculous!”

Readying himself, Chat held his baton like a bat and prepared himself to swing. The first akuma leapt forward, trying to grab Chat, only to be smacked in the stomach and sent flying backwards.

Akumas kept jumping, but Chat danced his way through them, knocking everyone out of the way on his way to find Marinette.

After fighting for what felt like hours, Chat was starting to tire. One akuma leapt onto his shoulders, but he didn’t have enough energy to get rid of it and was dragged to the ground. Akumas started to pile onto him, crushing Chat slowly.

In a nick of time, Carapace and Rena Rouge returned. Akumas were thrown left right and centre, one even making Hawk Moth move out of the way.

With a hand from Carapace, Chat was back on his feet. He checked the pouch with the ladybug miraculous, relieved that it was still there. “Rena, get this to Marinette. Carapace and I will keep the akumas over here.”

Rena caught the pouch as it spiralled through the water and took off, disappearing into the shadows before anyone could follow her.

“Are you sure you can keep fighting?”

Chat gave Carapace a mischievous grin. “I was just lying down for a few minutes, I’m totally relaxed.”

Akumas kept advancing, some getting scarier the more times they were knocked back. Some were cut and scraped, but Chat couldn’t find it in himself to feel sorry for them, even though they were just civilians.

More and more akumas started appearing and pouring down the stairs. They all looked the same, indicating that they must have been the guards before they were akumatised. Hawk Moth was getting lazy.

The dungeon was starting to fill up with akumas, and despite their best efforts, Chat and Carapace were becoming overwhelmed quickly. Chat could only hope that Rena had gotten to Marinette quickly.

Before they even realised, Chat and Carapace were pinned to the bars of cells, with dozens of hands holding them.

Hawk Moth strode over to them, smug. “Where are the miraculous?”

“I have no idea, I think I lost them.” Chat grinned back, the adrenaline from the fight still coursing through his veins and making him braver than he ever was.

“You insolent child! Give them to me!” Hawk Moth slammed his staff into Chat’s chest, winding him.

“I don’t have them anymore, I already told you that,” Chat wheezed, still grinning.

Hawk Moth’s eyes grew with the realisation that there was a hero missing. “Find the girl!”

“Which one of us?” Swimming from the shadows, Rena stood next to Marinette, who had already transformed.

“Give me your miraculouses and no one will get hurt, girl.”

“I have a name, and it’s Ladybug. Now, you will give me any miraculouses you have and surrender yourself to the other heroes, or I rip your army apart and take the miraculous myself. You have five seconds.” Ladybug placed her hands on her hips, glaring at Hawk Moth.

The two stared at each other in silence, tension filling the air between them.

Hawk Moth broke the silence first. “I have come too far to lose my miraculous now. I will never surrender to children, or a human playing dress-up.”

“Have it your way, then. Rena, are you ready?”

“Always, Ladybug.”

The girls leapt into action. Ladybug wrapped her yo-yo around as many akumas as she could and sent them through a different cell, some getting tangled in the bars. With Chat Noir and Carapace free, Hawk Moth was surrounded.

“You will never win, I am more powerful.”

Chat and Ladybug spoke at the same time, already in sync. “I doubt that.”

Not even thinking, Hawk Moth lashed out at Ladybug and tried to strike her across the head with his staff, only to have it blocked by Rena. He was shoved backwards into Chat Noir and Carapace, who threw him into a cell wall.

Hawk Moth was knocked out on impact, surprising the heroes. Rena moved first, poking the unconscious merman with her flute. “With all the talking, I thought that would be a harder fight.”

“Gabriel has never been one to do dirty work himself. He prefers having lackeys at his beck and call to do whatever he wants. It’s been like that since my mother died.”

“I’m so sorry, Adrien. I know he was still your father.” Ladybug rested her hand on Chat’s shoulder.

Chat turned towards her, emotionless. “He was never really a father to me, and this was the final straw. He was truly a villain, and I think it’s time I left the palace for good. I’m not needed here any longer.”

“We need you.”

“But the palace doesn’t. We can just hand Gabriel in to the king and leave. I don’t want to be here.”

Ladybug nodded, before pulling Chat into a hug. Without warning, Chat started to sob on her shoulder, finally having the comfort he never received from his father.

He cried about his family falling apart, his mother’s death, for Marinette’s parents, for Marinette and Alya losing their world, and for everything else that he had kept bottled up inside him. It all finally flooded out, tears joining the salty seawater.

“We should take his miraculous before he wakes up.” Ladybug rubbed circles on Chat’s back, but she knew that they only had a small amount of time.”

Chat pulled back and nodded, wiping the tears from his eyes. “I want to be the one to do it.”

Rena and Carapace swam to the side, allowing Chat to swim forward and rip the brooch from his father. Hawk Moth transformed back, leaving Gabriel lying in his place.

“Lucky Charm!” Ladybug used her power and was given a small shell. There was no use for it other than to clear the damage, so she threw it above her. “Miraculous Ladybug!”

The butterfly fish cleared from the akumas and turned white again, before swimming out the grates in the window and returning to the ocean. Each prisoner was put back into the correct cell and all the holes were filled back in, leaving the heroes and Gabriel in the middle of the dungeon.

“Who are you?” A voice called from the newly repaired stairs. 

Everyone turned, expecting to have to fight again, and saw a guard, spear raised in their direction.

Rena sighed. “Here we go again.”


	13. Chapter 12: Guardians

“We’re the holders of the miraculous, and we were sent to protect the city from evils like Hawk Moth.” Without thinking, Carapace introduced the four heroes, forgetting that Hawk Moth was the most trusted advisor in the entire kingdom. 

“That is Gabriel Agreste, an esteemed member of the court. Such accusations are considered treason and you will pay for your crimes.”

Chat sighed and released his transformation. The guard looked confused for a moment, until Adrien began to speak. “I can confirm that my father is in fact, a threat to the throne. He has been scheming to use powerful magic to create monsters to terrorise the city and seize power in the chaos. I can also confirm that the only thing that stood in his way, and stopped him, was these heroes and myself.

“I do not know how long he has been planning this, or where he got the miraculous, but I do know that Carapace was telling the truth and Gabriel Agreste should be punished for his crimes, at the very least he should serve a lifetime in prison.”

The guard was slack jawed when Adrien finished. “I will alert the king immediately.”

Adrien watched as he left the dungeon, only to be replaced with another guard seconds later. The new guard came over and slapped handcuffs onto Gabriel’s wrists and hauling him upright. Gabriel started to come to and struggled, but the guard was much stronger than he was.

“We should talk to the king and return the miraculous.” Adrien decided it was time to leave forever. He was finished playing hero and just wanted to live a normal life away from palaces and fathers that refused to let you be your own person. 

“Good idea.” Ladybug lead the way out of the dungeon, following the guard. Luckily, the guard also dragged Gabriel into the throne room in front of the king, so the heroes were in the right place.

“Gabriel, why am I hearing about a plot to take my throne?”

Gabriel, who was only half conscious, answered, “There is no plot, my king, the accusers are liars and anarchists.”

“He is incorrect. We restored peace in the dungeons, and my Lucky Charm returned everything to its normal state, while Gabriel only brought about chaos. He should” Ladybug gestured with a wide sweep of her arm over Gabriel.

The king turned to Adrien. “This is your father, and you aren’t trying to protect him?”

Adrien looked at Gabriel with contempt. “This man does not deserve my plea for his freedom. He hurt innocent people for selfish gain, and he deserves his punishment.”

Gabriel sneered at Adrien but stayed silent, a look of shock clear in his eyes. He had never expected his own son to turn on him like this, yet Adrien had thrown him into the jaws of death without blinking.

“Very well. Gabriel Agreste, for attempted treason, I sentence you to life in the darkest corner of the dungeons, reduced from a death sentence. I cannot believe that you would stoop this low for power. I hope you enjoy your new life.”

As the guards dragged him away, Gabriel let out a scream, cursing everyone in the room. “I will get my revenge, and I will bring Emilie back!”

The doors slammed closed behind the guards, leaving the heroes in the room with the king. “I must thank you, for protecting my kingdom. Without you, I wouldn’t have stood a chance. Is there any way we can repay you?”

“The only thing I request is being able to search my father’s items before I leave.” Adrien looked the king straight in the eye. “And I request that when I am gone, no one contacts me unless there is an emergency.”

“That will be granted, and I will allow you to take the human from the dungeons back to land, if you wish.”

“Thank you, your majesty.” Adrien bowed, the others following suit.

Adrien transformed back into Chat Noir and was about to leave with the others when the king started to speak again. “I will ensure that your identity will be kept hidden until you want it to be revealed.”

Chat Noir nodded and left, not bothering to bow again. They needed to get to Master Fu’s before Ladybug’s miraculous ran out, and there was only a little bit of time left.

“We can use the tunnels again, there shouldn’t be anyone else using them at this hour.” Carapace led the way, pushing the man hole back and dropping further into the colder water. 

“I’ll meet you there when I pack everything and get anything important from my father’s things.”

Rena and Ladybug nodded, the only confirmation he got.

Rena followed, Ladybug behind her, looking unsure but trusting her friend with her life. Chat pushed the tunnel shut behind them and returned to the palace.

Ladybug only had a few minutes until she turned back into a human, and getting this far only to drown would ruin everything they had worked for.

The tunnels were dark and dingy, even worse than last time. As the group swam, a dull bass pounded in the background. Nino’s club still had people in it, but not as many as there would be at night. It was the best time to sneak around, especially dressed up in superhero gear.

Ladybug’s costume would probably get just as many stares as anyone else’s. Bright red fabric was wrapped around her torso and falling loose against her hips. Black scales mingled with red along her tail and her hair was gathered in pigtails on either side of her head. Black gloves shrouded most of her arms, leaving only her shoulders bare.

The only thing concealing her identity was the black and red scales around her eyes forming a kind of mask, different to her friends’ masks. She stood out, especially with a yo-yo strapped around her waist.

While heading to his father’s office, Chat was lost in his thoughts, thinking about the tiny fragments of his life that he could remember having his mother around. They were few and far between, and yet they were his most valued memories. Though he couldn’t remember his mother’s death, he was told that he caused it and knew it was the beginning of the end for Gabriel.

He couldn’t think like that, though. For Gabriel to turn this dramatically, he must have been thinking about it for longer than anyone knew. And to have this much knowledge, Gabriel must have something useful hidden somewhere.

When he reached the doors of the office, Adrien breathed deeply. This was supposed to be Adrien’s office when Prince Ali became a king, but now he would get to choose his own advisor while Adrien followed his own path. 

The office was cold, colder than it usually was, even with the hot geysers in the corners of the room for warmth.

Adrien looked up at the portrait of his mother. It was too big to take with him, towering over everyone. It wouldn’t fit through the doors, either, so it was stuck here. Maybe someone would find a use for it. “I’m so sorry Mum, I didn’t think anything like this would happen to our family.”

Placing his hand on one side of the frame, Adrien jolted back like he was electrocuted. The entire picture had moved slightly, like a door opening. Underneath it, cut into the wall, was a safe. 

“What would the code be?” Chat tried to think of something that would apply. He didn’t know when his parents got married, and he couldn’t say for sure what either of their birthdays were. Gabriel never celebrated his birthday, and didn’t let Adrien have birthday parties.

Deciding there was only one way to get into the safe, Chat placed his hand against the door of the safe. “Cataclysm!”

The entire safe crumbled and fell through. Chat dug through the rubble to find a book, a small framed picture of Emilie, a brooch in the shape of peacock feathers, and a booklet about a place on land called Tibet. Chat took everything, tucking the brooch into the pouch, relieved to find he had put the moth miraculous in there without thinking about it.

Once he had everything, Chat decided there was nothing else to get. He didn’t have anything of value in his room, and he didn’t want any of his father’s things weighing him down. All the material possessions in this castle were replacable.

Swimming back out the window and into the sewers, Chat clutched the book to his chest, allowing himself to be led to Master Fu’s by the same feeling the first time he was down here.

The journey down was much shorter this time, like the miraculous was propelling him along. In only minutes, Chat was back outside the door to Master Fu’s house.

Before he could even knock, the door swung open, revealing Master Fu. Behind him, Marinette and Alya were bouncing around excitedly, their tails swaying back and forward to keep them upright.

That made Chat do a double take. Marinette and Alya were both human, they shouldn’t have tails, and yet, they did. Marinette’s was a soft pink, and Alya’s was fiery orange.

Marinette noticed Chat before Alya did. She threw herself towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck to hug him. “Adrien! I have a tail!”

“How? You’re human!”

Master Fu spoke, sitting on his mat. “There is a side effect of using a miraculous. Not a bad one, but a side effect nonetheless. Marinette and Alya have gained tails by using the miraculous, and you and Nino will experience the same side effect. It isn’t dangerous, do not worry.”

“Well, we’re here to return the miraculous, and this.” Chat handed Master Fu the book while he was getting the two miraculous out of the pouch. 

Master Fu smiled when he was given the jewels, taking them to the gramophone and placing them back into their places. He looked at the book fondly one more time before taking the box from its hiding place and handing it back to Chat. “These are yours now. The four of you are the Guardians of the Miraculous, and I trust you will be able to keep it safe.

“Thank you, Master.” Marinette bowed and took the book, while Chat took the box, slightly shocked. 

“I can’t, I just want to leave and have a normal life.”

“You do not have to use these ever again, you only have to hide them. I trust you with this duty, Adrien.”

Chat nodded and took the box, ready to finally leave. “Thank you, Master. I won’t disappoint you.”

“I know.”

Without anything else to say, Chat transformed back into Adrien and the four of them took their leave, swimming back through the tunnels and into open water.

No words were exchanged as they headed to the surface, towards a small group of abandoned islands where the waters shallowed and blocked any boats from entering. It was the perfect place to live their lives without worrying about danger.

Adrien slowed down and grabbed Marinette’s hand, bringing her to stop next to him. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this, you shouldn’t have had to give up your world to save me.”

“My world disappeared with my parents. This is the new start I wanted, and I couldn’t be happier to spend it with you, and our friends. This is perfect, Adrien. I should be thanking you.”

Giving Marinette a beaming smile, Adrien bowed and kissed her hand. “If you think of it that way, we should be on our way to the new start of yours.”

“Yes, we should.”


	14. Epilogue: Heroes Again

“I hope we did the right thing, coming here, and hiding out. Maybe we should have stayed and been the heroes of the city.”

Tikki appeared at the surface of the water, returning from her quick swim. “You just have to trust your heart, Marinette. Are you happy with your life?”

Marinette gazed over the water, staring into the distance. It had been nearly seven years since she was rescued from the dungeons, and her life had calmed down since then. She and Adrien had gotten closer, the same for Nino and Alya.

The four of them had set up a new life near a secluded beach on a distant island, not telling anyone where they were going and only going back to civilisation when they needed things like food. Everything else, they could do without. They had escaped with their lives and that was enough.

“I’m happy. I wanted to get away from Paris, and now I have. I’ve got Adrien, Alya, Nino, and Emma now. I don’t need anything else.”

Tikki looked behind Marinette and disappeared under the water, vanishing from sight. Marinette turned around to see Emma running as fast as her legs could carry her. “Mama!”

Marinette stood up and opened her arms toward Emma, waiting for the child to reach her. “Hello, Babybug.”

Adrien had nicknamed Emma ‘Babybug’ just after she was born, and it stuck. Of course, Emma didn’t know where her name came from, and she probably never would. It was her parents’ little secret.

“There you are, Emma. I’ve been looking for you.” Adrien smiled at Emma, not mad in the slightest. He knew she would head straight to Marinette, and there was nothing on the island that could pose a threat to her.

As she shifted Emma onto her hip, Marinette started to walk home. She saw Alya on the veranda outside. “I’ll meet you inside, but go see Auntie Alya for me.”

“Okay.” As soon as Emma’s feet touched the ground, she was off.

Marinette grabbed Adrien’s hand and pulled him back to the beach. Adrien stumbled, still not to most coordinated on land. “Come with me.” 

“Where are we going?”

“For a quick walk.”

“We have to get back to Emma, though.”

Marinette kept walking, dragging Adrien with her. “Alya can look after her for a few minutes, we just need to talk about something.”

As soon as they walked over a sand dune and out of sight from the houses, Marinette began to speak. “We need to talk about the Miraculous.”

“Do we? I’m sure no one needs heroes anymore, and we’re parents now. What would happen to Emma?” Adrien knew that if he wanted to keep the Miraculous forever, he would have to accept the responsibilities of being a hero, but he couldn’t risk Emma being left alone, possibly in danger.

“What if we just ignore all the problems that Ladybug and Chat Noir could so easily fix and Emma gets hurt? We wouldn’t be able to live with ourselves!”

“You of all people should know what it’s like to not have parents, we’re only here today because you lost yours!” That was a low blow, and Adrien could see it on Marinette’s face. She had returned to Paris multiple times over the years, leaving flowers on the graves on the anniversary of their deaths, but it was still a sensitive subject.

“My parents were murdered civilians, not superheroes. They didn’t have superpowers, they couldn’t stop their fates. We can, Adrien. We were given the powers to save the world and be the heroes they need when the world is filled with evil, why wouldn’t we take that?”

“Gabriel had a Miraculous, two of them, and look how he turned out. I don’t want to risk being so unattached the world as he was!”

Marinette grasped Adrien face in her hands and pulled him towards her until their faces were only centimetres away from each other. “You aren’t your father, you’re already so different.”

“I don’t want to turn into him, though. Maybe I should just give my Miraculous up.”

“Adrien, I promise I will never let you turn into your father, for whatever reason. He was a villain with a dark heart, but you are a hero. You choose other people and their safety over yourself. You’ve shown that time and time again, even the first time you got your Miraculous.

“It would have been so easy to go with Gabriel, to help him and bring your mother back, but you chose to save me and our friends, and keep the akumas from escaping into Paris. That’s what heroes do, and you’re a hero.”

Adrien placed his hands over Marinette’s, keeping them where they were. “What would I do without you, Marinette?”

“You’d be out exploring the oceans by yourself.”

“I don’t think I would have ever gotten out of that palace.”

“You would have, even if it took some time. The only reason everything happened so quickly was that YOU nearly got shot with a harpoon and I so daringly saved your life.” Marinette’s tone turned from gentle to teasing in a few words.

Grinning, Adrien spun them around and dipped Marinette, causing her to laugh. “Of course, my hero.”

“Now that I think about it, I don’t think you’ve ever said thank you for that.”

“How will I ever repay you? Would a kiss be sufficient?”

“Keep your Miraculous. Help us protect civilians.”

Adrien’s face fell. “Marinette…”

Marinette pulled away from Adrien. “Just consider it, please. If they need us, you have to make a choice.”

“I know.”

“I’m going to head back to Emma. She must be wondering where I am.”

“I’ll stay here and think about everything. See you when I get back.” Adrien kissed Marinette on the cheek and she walked away.

Turning towards the water, Adrien sprinted towards it, putting all his focus into not tripping. Once he was far enough out to sea, he dove in. As soon as he hit the water, Adrien felt his legs merge together and turn back into his familiar tail.

After he had first transformed into Chat Noir, the change to legs and back again had happened automatically. Changing back into his tail was easier, whenever the salt water hit his legs they changed, but to get his legs back he had to dry off completely. It was more complicated than it should be.

Breathing in deeply, water rushed through Adrien’s gills as he sped through the water. Swimming helped him clear his head, and it had become his escape from life, especially once he had gained his freedom.

He swam for an hour, watching the plants and sea life floating past him before he decided to head home. With his thoughts in order and his decision clear, Adrien was ready to return.

Usually, there was nothing in the water that could pose a threat to anyone on the island, so Adrien wasn’t paying too much attention to where he was going. He didn’t have to worry about ships passing by since the water was too shallow, so something hard bumped into his head, Adrien got a bit of a shock.

Throwing himself back in the water, Adrien was about to call his transformation when he realised that Plagg was nowhere to be seen, and the ‘attacker’ was actually just a glass bottle with a piece of seaweed paper in it.

“If this is here, it must be for us.” Adrien grabbed the bottle and powered back to the shore, knowing that he had been gone long enough.

When he reached the shore, Adrien hauled himself back onto the beach in front of Marinette. She had been waiting for him, even though he didn’t know how she found him, or how long she had been waiting.

Rolling the bottle in front of her feet, Adrien curled his tail underneath him and waited. The sun was blisteringly hot, and the water was nearly boiling off Adrien’s skin. In minutes, he was completely dry and standing in front of Marinette again.

As soon as he had stood up, Marinette started talking. “You’ve been swimming for hours and come back with a message in a bottle? Seems like a very cliché mermaid habit.”

“Very funny, but not everyone sends messages like that Only officials, because they have the power to control the water currents and send the bottle wherever they want. Anyone else just uses the postal service.”

Marinette shook her head. “Fine, but it still seems weird that half fish half humans have a post system.”

Holding the bottle up to his face for closer inspection, Adrien caught sight of the royal seal keeping the letter closed. “This is from King Ali.”

“I guess we better open it, then, if the king thinks we’re important enough to send letters to.”

Adrien uncorked the bottle and tipped the letter into his hand before passing the green tinted parchment to Marinette. “You can read it.”

“Ladybug and Chat Noir, your assistance is required in matters of safety concerning the kingdom. We request that you travel to meet with us immediately after receiving this letter. Thank you, King Ali.” Marinette finished speaking and allowed the letter to roll itself back up.

Adrien looked at the letter in his hand and nodded, sure of his decision. “I think the ocean needs its heroes, Ladybug.”

Marinette grinned and grasped both of his hands in hers. “I think they do, Chat Noir.”

Without another word, both of the heroes ran into the ocean and called their transformations, changing into heroes in mid-air. Marinette sent a message to Alya with Trixx before disappearing off into the ocean alongside Adrien, ready to take their places as heroes and protect the innocent people from evil.

“You made the right choice.” Ladybug called to Chat.

“If there are no heroes, there is no safe world for Emma to grow up in, and I will protect her with everything I have.”

“I knew you would.”

The city loomed into view and Ladybug and Chat Noir headed straight for the palace. Guards swung the doors open for them and the heroes zoomed straight into the throne room, where Ali was pacing anxiously. “Thank goodness you’re here!”

“What do we need to do?”

“There is someone attacking the outskirts of the city. They do not have a Miraculous, but they are still too powerful for the guards and we need your help.”

Chat squeezed Ladybug’s hand, pausing for a moment before he answered. “We’ll help you. Where do we need to go?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading Merman! I can't wait to write more in the future, including a Lukanette project soon and a multi-chapter fic centred around Chloe. See you soon!


End file.
